Vampyr
by Dragon Emperor0
Summary: Gavin and Devin Shirakumo are estranged twin brothers who also happen to be mutants. One being an eccentric, vampire loving boy and the other being as cold as steel. One with the X-men, the other, with the Brotherhood. What will happen to these two boys? *Featuring Chelsea-Marks from Dragon X and Azure flame wolf* Gavin/Rogue, Devin/OC, Chelsea/Logan. Fangs and blades rewrite
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings readers. this is my newest story. or rather, this is a rewritten version of an old story I had on a previous account called Fangs and Blades, and now I'm gonna make it ten times better than what it used to be. Also I'm going to be adding in a character from a story that was written by my friend Ice Age Mutant called Dragon X, the character's name is Chelsea Marks. Ice Age Mutant gave me permission to use her because she was retiring from fanfics, so I will try to do her justice once she comes into the story later on. but for now, enjoy!**

Chapter 1: Blades are sharp. Fangs however, are sharper.

The Charles Xavier Institute for gifted youngsters was a mansion in Bayville, New York that was home to several students of varying ages. At first glance it may seem like a normal place, but the moment you look closer, you see something else entirely.

For you see, the students at the institute are not what you would classify as 'typical' teenagers, now that's not to say that they don't have the same problems as kids their age, they do, and they all are perfectly normal, for the most part at least. But they all have one thing that makes them wholly different than others, they are what's scientifically known as Homosapien Superior, or more commonly known as mutants, humans with extraordinary abilities.

These powers vary from simple ocular abilities to complex atmokinesis. If they're hereditary, it hasn't shown yet. But there are also powers that are completely out of the ordinary, even by mutants standards. One such power set was about to show up on the doorstep of the Xavier Institute, possessed by a very… Eccentric teenager.

In the Institute sat a man with a head completely devoid of hair who was in a wheelchair, he was wearing a tailor made suit and was sitting in what looked like a study doing paperwork. This man was Charles Xavier, and he was a powerful telepath, meaning he could read minds. After a few minutes, the man was interrupted by the sound of some sort of alarm. He turned and saw on a computer screen next to him read: "Alert, new mutant signatures detected. Status: previously manifested."

The screen then showed an image of two boys, one looked to be around seventeen, the other was sixteen. They were both of the same family, more specifically, brothers. The man turned and read what was on the screen, one of the signatures was in Westchester, New York, and the second was in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.

Xavier looked at the profiles, then gave them a once over. After this he placed his hands on his temples and then used his telepathy to send a message to the rest of the teachers and students in the school.

'Everyone, I have received news of a set of new mutant signatures. Please come to my office immediately.' He mentally broadcasted. A few minutes later, several people came into the room.

"What's the deal, Chuck?" A scraggly looking man said as he was followed by several others. The second person to speak was an African woman with silver hair.

"You found another set of mutants, Charles?" She asked.

Xavier nodded. "Yes, one is here in New York, more specifically at Westminster Fencing Academy." He then laced his fingers together on his desk as he added. "And the second is in Shibuya, Japan."

The scraggly man seemed aggravated with that last statement. "That's gonna be a rough one." He said.

"Vhy is dat Logan?" A blue boy with a spaded tail asked with a German accent.

"Well elf, let's just say I got a few enemies there in the land of the rising sun." Logan explained. "And I ain't keen on runnin' into 'em."

Next to speak was a guy around seventeen with red lensed sunshades on. "So who's going where, Professor?"

Xavier was silent for a moment, then he looked at the boy. "You, Scott will be going with me and Jean to Westminster." He then turned to the African woman and Logan. "Logan, you and Ororo will go to Shibuya to speak to the guardians of the second mutant."

"I dunno, chuck." Logan said.

"Just let me do the talking Logan." Ororo told him before addressing the Professor. "What are their names Charles?"

"Their names are Gavin and Devin Shirakumo, twin brothers who are in different custodies." Xavier explained. "Gavin is in the custody of his mother, who works for the FBI and CIA, while Devin is in the custody of his Paternal grandparents." He then gained a grave expression. "I should also point out, the grandparents have connections to the Japanese yakuza."

This caused Logan to become visibly annoyed. "Perfect." He said sarcastically. After the briefing they all got into different vehicles and left for the two locations, where both new mutants waited.

(Later, in Westminster, NY)

In the Westminster Fencing Academy, the Fencing club was in the middle of practicing for the next big tournament. And right now, one such student was dominating his sparring match.

The boy was around 6'0" and was wearing a typical helmet and Fencing garb which was the school boy was easily parrying, blocking and dodging his opponent's attacks while maneuvering with absurd amounts of speed and grace. As his opponent was doing a thrust after finding an opening, he flipped up into the air and landed behind his opponent, then spun around and had his sword at his opponent's face.

"Aaaand halt! That's the match! Gavin wins!" The referee declared.

"Checkmate again." The boy said as he removed his helmet, revealing his face. He was Japanese-American and had angular and sharp eyes that are the color of a fine red wine, and his hair is jet black and medium length, it is styled in a popular Japanese style which was slightly messy. "Better luck next time."

His opponent removed their helmet which revealed a Spanish girl with black hair and green eyes. "That's the wrong sport, Shirakumo." She said.

"Aw lighten up, Ronni." Gavin said, as he grabbed his bag. "I mean, does it really matter if I mix up terms?" He asked, smiling as his white teeth slowly started to reveal vampire-like fangs.

"Still have those fake fang implants I see." Ronni said as they walked towards the locker rooms. Gavin huffed as he glared at her.

"What are you talking about? I keep telling you, they're real!" He told her as they reached the locker rooms.

Ronni rolled her eyes. "Sure they are." She said sarcastically as they walked into the two separate rooms.

Gavin walked into the room and put his bag on the bench in the locker room as he closed his eyes, seconds later his body turned to whitish gray smoke and went out of his clothes before rematerializing. After this he stood in a set of Dracula boxers. He had a slim build that seemed to be a mix between the build of a biker or a swimmer with well defined arm, leg, and abdominal muscles, as well as a well built chest. Once he got it out, he started to put on his school uniform. He then put the clothes in his bag, and then he left the locker room and met up with Ronni as they started heading out.

As they went back into the hall of the school, the intercom came on. "Gavin Shirakumo, please report to principal Smith's office." The voice called.

"Wonder What that's all about?" Gavin asked.

"Better get moving." Ronni told him.

The boy nodded and made his way to the principal's office. When he got there, he was greeted by the sight of people he didn't recognize. His mother was also there, she was wearing her usual pantsuit and had her glasses on, she had her blonde hair tied up in her usual bun.

"Hello, Gavin." Xavier said. "I am Professor Charles Xavier of the Xavier Institute for gifted youngsters. I'm hoping we could have a word with you."

(Meanwhile in Shibuya, Tokyo)

Ororo and Logan were arriving at the house of the second family, which was a large traditional Japanese styled house. Ororo rang the buzzer of the front gate, and was met by the voice of an elderly man, who spoke in Japanese.

Logan had made her stand aside as the two conversed for a few seconds before the man turned back to the African woman next to him. His expression grave.

"He says the kid's already been spoken for, he already left a few hours ago with a Miss Darklome." Logan explained.

"Mystique…" The Silver haired woman said ruefully. "We're too late…"

"Let's hope chuck and the others are having better luck." Replied the scraggly mutant.

(Later, in a conference room at Westminster Fencing Academy)

The principal had lent Xavier and the others a small conference room where PTA meetings were held so they could talk with full confidence. Both Mrs. Shirakumo and Gavin were both taking the news the man was telling them remarkably well.

"Wait, so you mean to tell me that I'm not actually a vampire, but actually a mutant?" Gavin said in surprise, but then deflated as his shoulders slumped. "Aww man!" He groaned in dismay. He always thought he was a daywalking vampire ever since his fangs appeared during a dentist appointment, so to hear he was actually a mutant the whole time was a serious killjoy for him.

Jean couldn't help but giggle at his reaction while Scott shook his head in amusement. "Don't worry, it's not that bad." She told him.

Xavier smiled. "As I was saying, at the institute would teach you how to properly control and use your powers. As well as learn how to live and blend in with society." He then looked at the boy, who was unashamedly grinning whilst flashing his fangs. "Though it seems you already have a handle on that."

The boy smiled smugly while his mother was looking at them. "Will he be safe?" She asked the professor in concern.

"I assure you ma'am, your son will be in very capable hands." The telepath explained. "And we've already taken steps to also try and recruit your other son, too. I believe his name is Devin yes? Gavin's younger brother?"

"Twin brother, actually." Gavin chimed in with an annoyed expression. "I was born a month early ahead of him on December 2nd, and he was born a month late on February 2nd. So technically he's a year younger, even though we're twins." He then looked to the side with a sour look. "Since we only get to see him a week each month we don't get along all that much."

Xavier nodded. "I see. Now, Gavin, ultimately this is your decision." He explained. "So whether you come with us or not is entirely up to you."

Gavin was quiet for a minute, then he looked at his mother who seemed to be completely comfortable with whatever his decision would be. Then he turned back to the professor. "Will I get combat training?" He asked.

"The best we can offer." He nodded.

Gavin nodded. "Alright. I'll do it." The others seemed pleased with this as his mother put her hand on his shoulder. "One more thing." He said.

The professor looked at him as the boy scratched the back of his neck nervously. "What's...What's your policy on pets?"

(Later on the way to the institute.)

Xavier was on the phone with Ororo and Logan as they were headed back to the school after Gavin got all his things. "Ororo just told me that Devin was already picked up by someone else."

"That's not good." Jean said in concern. "What do we do?"

"Right now? We go home." The man said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Vampyr of Bayville **

After recruiting Gavin, the group of four returned to the institute. The car pulled up to the gate and after Scott used the hand scanner, the giant ornate gates opened. The boy stared in awe as he looked out the window at the huge building that came into view.

"Whoa, this place makes Dracula's castle look like a shabby old hut." He said as they parked on the round curb.

"You're a real fan of vampires, aren't ya?" Scott asked as they got out of the car. The older teen helped the younger get his bags out of the car.

"Been one ever since I was ten. I've read the original novel like, over a hundred times at _least._" He said, shouldering a one strapped duffel bag.

"Well then, if you'd like we could have a few books like that put in your room." Xavier mentioned as they entered the building's main room. "I'm sure I have a few extra copies lying around here somewhere."

"Really?! That'd be awesome! I'll take all of them!" Gavin exclaimed in delight while looking around the room. "But do me a favor and don't get the Twilight series… Nice place." He added.

As if on cue both, Kurt and a girl with brown hair in a ponytail who looted to be fifteen came into the room. The former teleporting in a puff of sulphuric gas and the latter literally _phasing _through a nearby wall. These sudden appearances caused Gavin to nearly jump out of his skin and start to dissolve into smoke.

Scott grabbed the collar of the leather jacket he was now wearing and kept him in place. "Easy there man, they won't hurt you." He stated.

"Oh." Gavin sighed in relief, rematerializing, which now showed he had changed clothes: it was now a pair of loose fitting faded blue jeans, a black leather biker jacket a gray Old Navy hoodie, a black T-shirt with Hellsing: Ultimate on the front and the phrase "The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to keep me tame" in red gothic lettering on the back. And lastly he wears a pair of white trainers and a pair of black Oakley sunglasses with red lenses.

The two kids ran to meet him. The boy with the blue fur was the first to introduce himself. He walked up to him and held out a three fingered hand. "Hi, I'm Kurt, Kurt Vagner." He said cheerfully.

Gavin shook his hand and smiled, his fangs shining in the light. "Gavin, Gavin Shirakumo." He greeted.

Next was the girl in the ponytail. She smiled as she also shook his hand. "Like hey there Gavin, I'm Kitty." She said as her eyes widened at the sight of his long fangs. "Whoa, are those, like, real? Freaky." She got out, feeling a little unnerved.

"Yeah, it's my, uh, mutation." He said, scratching his head. "I can also do this, look." The boy said as he dissolved into smoke and whirled around her before appearing behind her. "Boo." He said in a way that was meant to scare people.

Kitty yelped in fright before she whirled around to face him. "Whoa!" She exclaimed.

The boy grinned as he leaned in and his face was level with hers. "I vant to drink your _soul._" He hissed, Kitty shivered but seemed confused.

"Soul? Don't you mean blood?" She asked. Gavin shook his head as he took his shades off, putting them in the pocket of his jacket.

"No, my fangs suck vitality, or life force energy from my victims in order to boost my own." He explained.

Xavier rolled up next to him and the boy faced him. "If I may, I'd like to examine them." The Professor requested. Gavin bent down and allowed the man to examine his elongated canines. The professor was silent for a moment while he pushed on one tooth, causing it to sink in before it returned to its original position, then he pulled back. "Interesting."

"What?" Gavin asked.

"It seems your fangs are retractable. Yet you prefer to keep them visible?" The man inquired.

"They're retractable?" Gavin asked, reaching in his bag and pulling out a hand mirror and pressed down on the same tooth, getting the same reaction. "Whoa, gnarly." He said.

"It seems we'll have to practice on how to retract your fangs, but for now, as long as people go under the assumption that they're most likely fake, I think it'll be fine." Xavier told him.

Gavin nodded, after this Scott came in with his last suitcase and what looked to be a black and red scabbard. The teen was starting to wobble which made Gavin become worried as he dashed towards him. "Don't drop that!" He yelled as Scott accidentally did just that and Gavin had to dive in order to catch it in time. "Gotcha!"

Scott fell as he rubbed his rear and Gavin strapped the scabbard to his right side. "Watch it! This thing's an heirloom!" He said to the boy in the shades with a slight glare.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Scott grumbled as he got up. Kurt helped him get the bags upstairs by teleporting up. Gavin meanwhile looked his sword over, it seemed to have no damage.

Xavier chuckled at their antics as he faced Jean. "Jean, show Gavin to his room if you could, please?"

"Will do, Professor." Jean nodded as she gestured for the boy to follow her. "Come on Gavin, right this way."

"So, you have your own sword?" Jean asked as she lead him upstairs to his new room. The boy opened the door and saw that it was fairly basic while still being extravagant, a mirror was on top of a dresser in front, a twin sized bed was furnished with well picked sheets and was right next to a window, with a nightstand right next to it, and he also had a bookcase full of books and a desk of his own.

Gavin walked in and looked around. "This'll do nicely… But, do you think we could have the bed moved out in a couple days? I'm shipping mine down here and it should be here by Wednesday." He informed.

"I'm sure we can." Jean nodded. "What does it look like?" The boy smirked as he pulled out a picture of a black coffin made of what looked like to be polished mahogany with red velvety satin lining and cushioning and a red and silver pointed cross on the lid, it also had several travel decals on the sides. "... A coffin?" She deadpanned.

"It's also soundproof, I like to be as authentic as possible, plus it really helps me fall asleep, I have sharpened hearing so I need an enclosed and soundproof area to avoid hurting my ears." The boy explained. "Plus, it kinda makes me feel like I'm camping."

"How does a coffin make you feel like you're camping?" Jean questioned, unable to find a connection.

The Japanese-American tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Isn't it obvious? It simulates how a sleeping bag feels like." He stated.

The redheaded telepath seemed puzzled before realizing he did make a point. "I see. Well, I'll keep an eye out for it."

"Thanks Jean." He smiled. The girl smiled back as she left him to get unpacked, which he did and then proceeded to put his already folded clothes into the drawers of his dresser and hung up the other clothes in his wardrobe, then he started to hang up some posters, like one for the Castlevania games and tv series, bands like Voltaire and several others. Once he was done he nodded, satisfied. "That should just about do it."

As he finished up he then walked over to his bed, it had a box on it that wasn't there before. He went over to it and opened the box, and he smiled at what he saw inside of it. He pulled it out and revealed some sort of costume, a red high collared trench coat, a black skin tight shirt, black pants, red segmented metal greaves, black forearm length fingerless gloves with red segmented metal plating, a red fedora hat with a wide, floppy brim, and lastly was a pair of black Oakley sunglasses with heavily tinted red lenses similar to what he wore, only these were round.

He didn't get to look at it for long however, because Kurt suddenly appeared into his room and interrupted him. The boy jumped back as he reflexively grasped the hilt of his sword.

"Sorry, just wanted to tell you that the other instructors, Logan and Miss Munroe are back from Japan." The fuzzy mutant told him.

"Oh, okay. I'll be down in a minute." The boy nodded as the other boy vanished. "I'm never gonna get used to that." He muttered.

After putting his sword and costume on the bed, Gavin ran down the stairs and almost fell off the last few, but was able to turn into smoke and floated next to Kitty safely before hitting anything. He saw both the instructors and they didn't seem all that happy, a scraggly man and an African woman.

"What's the matter?" He asked. The African, who he assumed was miss Munroe, looked at him and sighed before looking at the professor who nodded.

"We tried to recruit your brother while we were in Japan, but it seems our enemy, Mystique, has gotten to him first." Ororo explained. This caused everyone but Gavin to seemed shocked.

"Who?" He asked, scratching his head. He didn't understand who this Mystique woman was or why she seemed to be so dangerous.

The professor sighed as he laced his hands together. "This is indeed unfortunate news, however, we can not let that stop us, we can still try and earn young Devin's trust and see if he's willing to join us."

Gavin meanwhile couldn't help but snort. "Good luck with that. If there's one thing about my brother, it's that he would probably stay with the opposite side just to spite me, even if his values don't align with theirs." He stated like it was a fact… Which it was.

"Your relationship is really _that _bad?" Scott asked, feeling a little shocked.

"Oh Yeah, it's because he's got a big brother complex, he's always trying to make himself look better than me because he can't stand that people think of him as the 'little brother' even though we're twins. And since we only get to see him for a week each month and that doesn't exactly help things. And not to sound mean, but he's basically a walking talking T-1000 reference, powers and all, he's like a human robot." Gavin said matter of factly.

This made everyone seem either uneasy or surprised. Then Logan spoke up next after clearing his throat. "So you're the new recruit, right kid? What's your power?" He asked.

The boy smirked and showed his elongated teeth, pointing at them as he opened his mouth let his tongue roll out. "Ahhhh!" He said. This caused the feral mutant to wrinkle him nose.

"Urgh, your breath smells like fish." He growled, pinching his nose.

"Probably because I had Sushi for lunch." The boy smirked as he turned smoke again and reappeared next to the man. "If you want, I can show you just how good I am."

Logan turned around and blinked in surprise before getting a smirk on his face. "A'right Smokey, yer on." He grinned.

Everyone looked at each other as Kurt seemed giddy. "Ooh, dis is going to be good!" He said, jumping up and down. Scott looked like he was interested. And Kitty was surprised.

Ororo and Jean seemed concerned, however. "Professor, are you sure this is…?" Jean asked.

Charles held up a hand. "It's alright, after all, we need to see how well he's already adjusted to his powers, this will be a good opportunity." He then turned to the boy. "Go ahead."

Gavin nodded and then disappeared upstairs for a minute or two and then reappeared in his new costume and his sword, then was lead down an elevator with the others to what looked like an open metal room, with an observation deck. Scott called this room the Danger room, though Gavin couldn't understand why.

Logan was in a costume of his own costume also, which was a pair of black pants, Orange strap on boots, orange gloves with three openings at the knuckles, an orange top, and an orange cowl with black domino mask extensions. He stood ready as three metal claws came from each of his hands.

"Alright Smokey, come on!" He growled.

Gavin adjusted his gloves before turning to the observation deck was. "Excuse me, Professor? Can I ask you something?" He called.

"Yes Gavin, What is it?" The man called back through the speakers.

"Is it alright if I use the full extent of my power?" The boy inquired.

The professor on his part seemed to be a little confused, but decided to just answer. "Yes Gavin, go ahead." He told the boy.

The pseudo vampire grinned madly as he unsheathed his sword, which was an Estoc styled broad sword with a Blood Red blade. It had a cross guard with two faceting and overlapping ruby red colored diamond shapes which were set in a hourglass-like fashion as well as being lined with silver. There was a slender, rose red handle which has a silver spiral going down it. And lastly the spear word has a silver pommel that's in the shape of a curled up sleeping bat as well as a set of pointed cross overlays on each of the flats of the blade towards the guard. He pointed it at Logan.

"Now what did you say your name was?" He asked.

"Logan, but when we're in here, call me the Wolverine." Wolverine said.

"Well then, Wolverine, let's get started." Gavin said as he raised a hand. "Releasing control art restrictions 3, 2, 1." He said as he counted down. "Approval of situation A recognized. Commencing Cromwell Invocation. Ability restrictions lifted for limited use until the enemy has been rendered silent." As soon as he finished saying this smoke started filling the room as it seemed to be pouring out from his body endlessly.

Wolverine seemed unnerved as this development. "What the hell?"

Gavin laughed as he readied himself. "Now, Wolverine, you shall face me, Vampyr, at my full strength."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Vampyr vs Wolverine **

The smoke just kept cascading from the boy as it surrounded the two, covering the area in a fog of white and gray. Wolverine kept looking around as he tried to figure out what was going on, then turned back to the boy who disappeared into the smoke.

"Where are you?" He growled, flailing his claws around, only hitting nothing but smoke and air.

The next thing Wolverine knew, he suddenly had a cut on his back. Nothing severe, but it did cause him to stumble a bit since he was flailing his claws around. He looked behind himself at the cut and was astonished, cuts like this would have been healed by then due to his healing factor, but instead the cut was still open.

"What… What did you do? Why isn't my healing factor working?" He said as he spun around and looked at the blade, he looked at it, then it's own claws. "That thing, it's made of Adamantium."

Gavin looked at his sword. "Is that what it's made of? Huh, who knew." He said to himself.

Logan growled as his nostrils flared, the blade also had a toxic smell to it, which meant it was radioactive, which made the other metal in its alloy a no brainer for him. "Carbonadium, that's why my healing ain't working, you got a radioactive metal in that sword."

Gavin immediately became alarmed by what Wolverine just said. "Crap! The radioactivity isn't harmful to people, is it?!" He asked in a concerned tone.

The feral mutant smirked. "Nah, not as long as ya got a healing factor like me." This statement was followed by Logan slashing the boy across the face while he was distracted and was surprised when the wound quickly knitted itself back together in a matter of seconds, even faster than his own. "Which apparently you have in _spades._"

Gavin let out a growl and slashed back, knowing he'd have to get more information on Carbonadium later. For now, he had a fight to deal with. He did several maneuvers that he learned in Fencing class and slashed open to gashes in the man's torso.

Logan stumbled back as he howled in pain and tried to lunge at the boy, but was stopped when his vision was obstructed by Gavin tossing his hat in the man's face, allowing him to disappear into the smoke.

Wolverine growled as he looked around, his nose was confused due to all the smoke having Gavin's scent, so if the boy did another sneak attack he had the perfect opportunity. That's when he saw something out of the corner of his eye, and swung his arm to connect with the boys face, only to have his claws go through him and his dissipated into smoke. "A clone?" Wolverine said as he stood there in surprise.

He didn't have time to understand it as he gasped in pain and spat out blood as a sharp and horrific pain went right through his midsection just above his stomach, and was pinned to the wall as the boy looked at him with a wicked fanged smirk. "Tell me Wolverine, does that hurt?" He grinned in vindictive glee.

Everyone in the observation deck looked on in shock at what they were witnessing. "Whoa, just how much power does this kid have?" Scott asked.

"He's turning Mr. Logan into a shishkebab." Kitty added in concern.

Xavier was quiet, he had known that his mother had a sort of limiter put on him once his powers appeared, as well as his personality. He just didn't understand why, but now he did.

Meanwhile with the two mutants, Gavin now pulled out his sword as Logan fell to his hands and knees and coughed up blood.

"Don't tell me your finished? Come on, get up! Hurry! You've only suffered the opening of your stomach!" The pseudo vampire said as he taunted the man, kicking him hard in the side. "Come on, summon up your strength, reforge your body, heal your severed stomach and stand! Hurry hurry hurry hurry HURRY! The fun's only just begun!"

Wolverine was on the verge of foaming from his mouth at what he was hearing. He focused as much of his energy as he could into his healing factor and felt his wounds close up with the severe ones being partially closed. Once that was done, he got up and lept at Gavin with a vicious slash, which he took and didn't seem phased.

"Is that the best you can-oh!" Gavin said before falling to his knees, he looked at his hand and noticing his own stomach was bleeding, his healing factor was trying its best to heal it, but it was still taking time.

And apparently that time was all Wolverine needed because he took this moment to get the upper hand and kick the boy in the face and was sent flying, his sword land several feet away from him and his smoke field disappearing. With the sword gone it's radiation no longer hampered Logan's healing, which meant he was back to normal in seconds.

"_That's_ the best I can do, bub." Wolverine growled, his claws out again. The boy staggered back to his feet and noticed what all had occurred. This caused him to become angry and charge at the man, his speed and agility being incredibly high, maneuvering around as he kicked and punched the man with lightning fast speed.

This soon erupted into a full on fist fight, both beating each other with punches, kicks, kneeing and elbowing each other, and their wounds healing faster than they could get them. But that wouldn't last much longer, because they were both starting to run out of energy. Wolverine snarled and Gavin hissed, flashing his fangs as they lunged at each other and collided. The two kept punching as the feral mutant's arm collided with the boy's mouth.

This was a mistake as the boy then sank his fangs into the man's arm and started draining his vitality at rapid speed. Logan waved his arm around and slammed the boy down back first onto the metal floor, causing him to release the mutant's arm. Logan growled and he stomped his foot on the boy's stomach, knocking the air from his lungs.

The man breathed heavily as he fell to his knees. "Take… That." He said as he took off his mask.

(About an hour later)

Gavin slowly woke up on his bed as he felt sore all over, all he remembered was getting slammed onto the floor of the danger room before everything went black. He groaned as he looked at himself, he was still in his costume. So he got up and walked over to his dresser and changed clothes, then went downstairs.

As he entered the kitchen he saw that everyone was already there. Kurt teleported over to him as soon as he walked in. "Oh hey, You're awake! You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." Gavin nodded. "How long was I out?"

"About an hour." Jean said as she handed him a glass of water and a couple aspirin. "This should help." Gavin took the medicine and downed it quickly. "Also, The Professor wants to talk to you in his office."

The resident pseudo vampire nodded and made his way to the aforementioned office. As he entered he saw the telepath sitting at his desk. "Uh, Professor? Jean said you wanted to speak with me." He asked as he stood in the doorway.

The man looked at him. "Ah, Yes Gavin, come in." The boy did so and sat down. The man laced his fingers together in front of him, then looked at the boy seriously. "Now Gavin, I'd like to speak about you about with what happened in the Danger Room."

Gavin fidgeted nervously in his seat. "Oh, uh, sure… What about it?" He asked. The man then sighed.

"I would like for you to explain to me why it is you have the control art seal on you, and why you were never upfront about it." Xavier questioned with a serious tone.

"Well… To be honest it was because I was afraid you guys would have not let me join if I told you." He explained ashamedly.

Xavier gave him a sympathetic look. "You need not worry about that, I am not one to refuse anyone who is in need of help. Understand that I am not mad, but instead I am impressed that you actually have so much maturity as to seek permission to remove your seals rather than doing it anyway, it shows maturity."

"Wow, Thanks Professor." Gavin said.

Xavier smiled. "You're welcome." He then leaned back in his seat. "Now, let's discuss how we can help you improve your skills in areas you may lack."

(Meanwhile elsewhere in Bayville at the Brotherhood boarding house)

Mystique, in her Mrs. Darkholme form walked into the Brotherhood boarding house and walked into the rundown living room. A boy with sickly pale skin hopped in like a Frog.

"Yo, what's up, miss Darkholme?" He asked as another boy in a brown vest and torn jeans followed him.

"Hello boys, I'd like to introduce you to your newest teammate." The woman said as she turned to the boy who followed her in.

The boy who entered was a Japanese-American boy like Gavin, who's skin tone is lighter due to being part Caucasian. He was around 5'8" with a similar slim and lean build that seemed to be like that of an Olympic Javelin thrower with well defined arm, leg, and abdominal muscles, as well as a well built chest. He had the same angular and sharp eyes as Gavin, but his were a silver color, and his hair was black/brown and partly dyed silver. It was also medium length, and styled in a different popular Japanese style that has his hair combed over his right eye. He also had a scar on his left cheek. His attire was a gray leather jacket, a pair of denim blue jeans, a black and silver T2 T-shirt, and white track shoes.

The boy looked around the building and scoffed in disgust at what his living conditions looked like. "This is what I am to live in? You must be joking." He growled at Mystique as his skin rippled like liquid metal for a brief second.

"It may not look like much, but it will be enough while you are under my tutelage, Mr. Shirakumo." Mystique said, dismissing his statement.

The taller boy walked up to him. "So you're a mutant too? What's your power?" The boy said.

The Japanese-American held up a hand as it turned into liquid metal before forming a long cylindrical spike. "I am Devin Shirakumo, and my power is liquid metal." He then pointed the spike at Mystique. "And know this, Miss Darkholme, I will only be under your tutelage so long as it benefits me, not you." He said with a cold stare.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Rogue Type **

A couple days passed since Gavin arrived at the Xavier Institute, and the boy was finally finished settling in, since his Coffin bed finally arrived. Now he was making sure he had all his supplies for his first day of school at Bayville high the next day.

But his unpacking was interrupted by a loud noise that ripped through the air, a scream coming from one of the Institute's female residents.

"AAAAGGGGHHHH!" He heard Kitty's voice shriek from down stairs. Wondering what that was about, the boy runs downstairs and saw that the girl was waving a rolled up newspaper around trying to hit a small flying creature.

The creature looked to be some sort of bat, a rather small one at that. Gavin's eyes widened as he recognized the small animal, running over to the girl he stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"Hey! Stop that, you'll hurt him!" Gavin said, stopping her from hitting the bat with the rolled up paper.

Kitty turned to glare at him. "Why are you even defending the thing?!" She questioned angrily.

"Because that's my pet bat, he must have gotten out of his cage." He explained, holding out his index finger, letting the small flying mammal land and hang from it. "See? He's completely harmless." Gavin said as he held the creature close. "Bad Brownie! You know you're not supposed to be out during the daytime, what if you got hurt, huh?"

The bat looked at him with its black eyes, chittering at him in reply. The bat itself was barely bigger than the palm of his hand and had milk chocolate brown and brownie brown fur, with black wings, and had a set of white spots lining its back that make the shape of the bat constellation..

"Wait, so that thing is, like, your _pet?_" Kitty asked in astonishment as she backed away from the two. She didn't seem to have a very high opinion of bats, apparently.

Gavin nuzzled his cheek against Brownie's and let him chatter away in his ear before speaking again. The boy nodded and looked back at the girl. "Yes, and he just told me that you just interrupted him from getting his food." He told her with a sharp glare while Brownie crawled onto his shoulder.

The girl was about to retort when the Professor's voice filled their heads. "_Attention Everyone, please report to the Cerebro room for an urgent briefing." _The telepath said mentally.

Both Gavin and his nocturnal pet shuddered at the presence in the boy's head left. "I know right? So creepy." Gavin said, looking at his pet who was chittering in disapproval.

"Says the guy who sleeps in a coffin and has a pet bat." Kitty said, rolling her eyes.

Said boy just decided to ignore that as he left to put his bat in his cage. "Don't you gimme that look, you know I can't trust you to stay put." He told the little mammal as it chirped in protest.

(Later, Cerebro room)

Everyone filed into the Cerebro room as they saw Xavier waiting. "What's up Prof?" Scott asked. The professor faced the computer as it showed a red dot flashing on the map right in the middle of Mississippi.

"Cerebro just got a read on a new Mutant signature, but due to something that occurred during the manifestation of her powers, her mind has jumbled and confused. Making her become a danger to both herself and others." Xavier said as he faced the group. "X-men, we have a Rogue Mutant on our hands, and it's time to suit up."

The others nodded as they all got their suits on, then everyone loaded into the jet that Scott called the X-Jet. Then they took off and headed south.

The ride was relatively short with how fast the plane was, but there was a temporary scar when Kurt tried to impress Kitty by teleporting to the top of the plane and almost fell off, which made Gavin rolled his eyes at how stupid the fuzzy dude was being.

As they touched down, Gavin stepped out of the jet and pulled the brim of his hat down over his face. "I'm gonna go scope out the area, later." He said as he started dissolving into smoke and drifted away towards the east.

"Hey, Gavin! Wait!" Jean said, trying to stop him, but it was too late. "Aaand he's gone. Great."

"Sure hope no one tries to stake him." Scott chuckled, which only earned him a glare from the others. "What?"

(Meanwhile with Gavin.)

The pseudo vampire walked down the street as he looked for the girl who they were trying to find, however he seemed to be getting a lot of attention due to how conspicuous his costume looked. He sighed as he pulled down the brim of his hat and looked at the seal that Xavier had put on his gloves, remembering that he would have to ask before he could unleash his full power unless it was an emergency.

As he walked down the street he heard the scream of a girl and the honking of traffic, his enhanced audio receptors telling him that it was coming from about 6 blocks due north. Smirking, he took off running. "Bingo!" He said as his coat flapped in the wind.

Following the sound he came to a backyard fence and vaulted over it to the other side, landing in a superhero landing position and ended up accidentally startling the girl who was on the other side. As he stood up, he got a good look of what she looked like, and his eyes widened at how gorgeous she looked.

The girl had short auburn hair with white streaks as bangs in front of her hair. She had grey eyes and a pale skin complexion, and she was wearing purplish-blackish makeup and lipstick. Her outfit consisted of a sheer long-sleeved green blouse over a black halter top, a short black leather skirt, and black leggings. She wears thick combat boots, and dog collars around her neck and wrists. Black gloves covering her hands.

The boy stood there, mouth agape as his fangs were in plain view, his mind not able to properly connect to the rest of his body, like his brain was a TV experiencing static due to a rainstorm. "Whoa…" He said as he tried to reboot his brain.

The girl looked at him in confusion. "What the...Alucard?" She questioned, she had a very thick southern belle accent.

That was the mental cold shower he needed. "Uh, no, my… My name is Gavin." He said, shaking his head. "I'm here with the X-men, we picked up the signal of your mutant powers and came here to try and help you before you hurt yourself."

"Wait, what?" She asked, seeming to be visibly confused. The boy sighed as he sat next to her and took off his hat and sunglasses.

"Let me start from the beginning." He said as it explained everything that he had learned about the institute. The girl in turn explained what she thought her power was, which intrigued the boy. She also mentioned that her name was Anna Marie, but she preferred to be called Rogue.

"Well Rogue, I think you have a pretty cool power personally. But it's got me curious… I wonder if it'd work on me?" He mused. "Mind trying that?"

"Uh, ya sure?" Rogue asked.

"Sure." He nodded. Rogue took a deep breath and took off one of her gloves, then she placed it on his cheek, she flinched, expecting something to happen, but instead, nothing happened, her powers didn't work.

Rogue gasped in shock as she kept her hand there. "No way…" She uttered. "Ah can, ah can touch you?"

"Looks that way." He nodded. The two stayed like that for a moment before Kurt suddenly appeared on a swing, the blue mutant using his hologram watch to look normal.

Gavin rolled his eyes as he got up, Rogue being obviously startled. "Kurt, what the hell are you doing?" He growled.

"Following you." The German boy said. "I see you found the frauline before we did."

Gavin nodded. "Yeah. But she just got finished telling me that Storm and Wolverine attacked her, what gives?"

Kurt looked confused. "No, they're on the other side of town." He told them. "Are you sure it was them?"

"Pretty sure." Gavin nodded. He then walked over to the boy and turned off his image inducer, making him turn into his true form. "And keep the hologram off for now, we need to earn her trust, so it's best we _be honest._"

Kurt jumped back as Rogue let out a startled yelp. The pseudo vampire grabbed her hand reassuringly. "Easy. Don't be scared, he won't hurt you." He told her. Rogue slowly started to calm down again, but was startled _again _when Kitty came up behind her by phasing through the fence, which caused her to bump into Kurt and start involuntarily teleporting all over the place before disappearing again.

Gavin hissed at Kitty in annoyance as she ran towards Kurt. "Nice going, Kitty, you just made things worse!" He grumbled.

"Look, I'm sorry, but don't you think we should worry about Kurt?" Kitty said in worry, holding kurt in her lap.

"You worry about the fuzz ball, I'm gonna go find Rogue. If one of us doesn't stop her, things are only gonna get worse." Gavin said, looking down at the unconscious boy. "Just be careful."

Kitty nodded as he disappeared, the boy again followed the tell tale sound of Rogue's combat boots and the 'Bampf' sound of the teleporting she was doing, quickly finding her. "Rogue?" He called, looking around for her. "You here? Hello!"

That's when she appeared right in front of him, causing him to jump back. "Oh...there you are. Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" He asked, walking up to her. Now that they were standing it was clear that Gavin was a couple of inches taller than her.

The southern belle shook her head. "Nah, Ah'm… Ah'm okay, Ah think." She said, seeming slightly shaken.

"Okay. Listen, I'm gonna call the others here. If you see anyone who attacked you, let me know, I'll ask them if they actually did and keep you safe if they try it again." The boy told her. "You okay with that?"

Rogue nodded as he dialed the others. Storm and Wolverine were the first two to come, which seemed to scare Rogue who recognized them rather quickly, Gavin got in between them so she would be more at ease. Then pulled out his sword and pointed it at Wolverine. "Back up Wolverine, until I know you're not hostile."

"What are you talking about Smokey?" Wolverine growled.

Storm got in between the two. "Everyone remain calm." She said, then she turned to Gavin and gave him a stern look. "Gavin, I understand that you are trying to help this girl, but you must not jump to conclusions."

"Yeah, if ya woulda let us explain ya would've known that the person that's been chasin' her was Mystique." Wolverine growled, his nostrils flaring. "She may be able to change her appearance, but not her scent."

"Mystique? You mean the chick who got ahold of my brother?" Gavin questioned. Before the two could answer however, the others arrived, but something was different, instead of just one Jean there were two. This caused everyone to become confused, both Jeans arguing about who was actually the real one, this continued until it erupted into a full on fight, and Rogue, scared and confused about what was going on ran away, accidentally colliding with Storm and getting some of her memory before running off.

Gavin tried to follow her, but was stopped by the second Jean. "I won't let you get to her, you've caused enough trouble with her as it is, boy!" She growled as her visage turned into that of a woman with blue skin, yellow eyes and red hair.

Gavin hissed, flashing his fangs as he looked back at Scott and the others. Shaking his head, he just quickly turned into smoke and went through Mystique and started running towards where Rogue had started running to. He tried to follow her voice but it was gone, it was like she disappeared.

"Gavin." Scott called over the comms. "Mystique's gone, were you able to find Rogue?"

"No, she's gone." The boy hissed into the earpiece. He then looked up at the night sky. "But I'm not gonna stop until I do."

(Meanwhile elsewhere in the same district.)

Rogue was now being lead into a car by her adopted mother, Irene, also known as the blind psychic mutant Destiny and Mystique in her Miss Darkhölme facade. The doors closed as the white and auburn haired girl looked rather dejected. The car drove off as the X-jet flew off in the distance.

(A day later)

Gavin started school at Bayville High the next day, his mind still on Rogue and how he had failed to help her. As he walked to his first class he saw Rogue, who was getting her stuff for her own class, his face lit up in both surprise and glee, now he could try and talk to her again. But before he could even get near her, he bumped into he regained his footing he saw that it was someone he recognized immediately.

The boy who bumped into him looked at him and glared at him. "Oh, hello there, brother." Devin said in a cold tone, his skin rippling a metallic color.

"Hey there, Devin, how ya been?" The older of the two hissed, fangs flashing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Lovers and Brothers quarrel**

The two boys glared at each other for a good while, Gavin's red wine colored eyes not moving from contact with Devin's silver ones. The older of the two outranked the younger in the height department, so Devin had to look up at him as he talked.

"So, I hear you're part of the Brotherhood of evil mutants." Gavin said as he crossed his arms.

"I am, and I'll prove who's better between the two of us." Devin declared with a determined look.

Gavin bent down to his brothers height and looked him dead in the eye. "Yeah, you probably will. But let me ask you something, at what cost?" Gavin challenged.

Devin faltered slightly, realizing his brother had a point, but kept his composure as he made his answer. "I'll achieve my goal by means necessary." Devin responded.

Gavin stood back straight again. "Then I hope you're ready to face the consequences of your actions when the time comes, little brother." He replied before walking off after Rogue, leaving Devin with his thoughts.

Luckily for Gavin Rogue was just finishing up packing. As she closed the door of her locker she saw him walking up to her.

"Hey, Rogue." He said as he walked up to her.

"Um… Do ah know you?" She asked with confusion, not recognizing him.

"I'll give you a hint: Alucard." Gavin replied with a smirk, showing his fangs in the process.

The girl's eyes widened as she gasped. "...Gavin?" She whispered with hope in her voice.

"Yeah, it's me." He nodded. "You okay? You disappeared the last time I saw you. You weren't hurt, were you? And how'd you get here?" He asked, wondering about all of this.

"My foster mom, Irene, brought me here." She told him. "What about you?"

"I'm living in the Xavier Institute for gifted youngsters." He explained. "It's basically a boarding school for kids like, ya know, us."

"You mean mutants?" She asked softly.

"Yeah. And there's another group that's around here called the Brotherhood, and from what I've heard, they're bad guys. So do me a favor, watch out for them okay?" He told her before looking at her with a pleading look. "I mean it, Rogue. Please, be careful."

Rogue looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, ah'll do that." She told him, easing his worries.

Right at that moment the bell rang and they started walking down the hallway as Gavin pulled out a schedule. "I got home room first in classroom 107, you?" He asked her.

Rogue pulled out her own schedule. "Same." She replied after looking it over. "Guess we got most of the same classes."

"Looks like it." Gavin nodded.

Meanwhile Jean was in the middle of breaking up a potential fight between her boyfriend, Duncan, and a new kid, Fred Dukes, who was a heavy set guy who had a Mohawk and wore a pair of overalls over a green shirt and had on a pair of black sneakers with untied laces.

Fred was currently about to hurl an entire row of lockers on Duncan and crush him with it like a bug. "Don't you make fun of me!" Fred yelled angrily as he readied himself to slam the lockers on the blonde football player, who was cowering in fear.

Jean ran up to them and got in between the two. "Hey, stop!" She said as she tried to stop the boy before he could do anything. "Hey could you please not hurt him? He may be an idiot, but he's also our star quarterback." She asked as Fred slowly started to calm down.

Duncan of course got the hell out of dodge and Fred slowly set the lockers down. "Well he shouldn't have made fun of me." Fred told her angrily.

"No, he shouldn't have." Jean told him, before noticing he had a schedule in his hand. "Do you need help with your schedule?" She asked.

"Uh, yes. Please." Fred replied.

Jean gave his schedule a look. "Okay looks like your first class is Chemistry II, which should be that way." She told him, pointing down the hall.

"Thanks." Fred responded before heading to his class. A couple hours later lunch time arrived and everyone was currently trying to get their food.

Gavin had brought his own lunch, which was a few slices of thin crust pizza that was cut into squares, a bag of Cheetos puffs, and two small cans of root beer. He was currently looking for a place to sit.

That's when he saw his brother sitting with two guys he had seen the Professor mention being part of the Brotherhood, one being Lance Alvers aka Avalanche, the other was Todd Tolansky aka Toad. Devin was eating out of a Bento box he had with him, being about a couple feet away from the other two.

"Okay, I think I'll avoid them." He said to himself before looking around and then saw Kurt and Scott, and since there wasn't anyone else around, he decided to sit with them.

As he sat down with the two he opened up his lunch box and got out his food, which was a pizza with pepperoni, onions, sausage and bacon, mushrooms and lastly jalapeños of all things. Gavin's mouth watered as he started to dig into it. "Jalapeña pizza, best stuff around." He grinned, his New York accident showing through like a bad makeup cover.

"Dude, you really need to learn how to get those fangs of yours hidden." Scott told him as he pointed at the boy's still visible elongated teeth.

"Oh. Whoops." Gavin got out before willing his fangs to retract.

"So, you adjusting okay?" The shaded teen asked. "Cuz I saw you had your 'bed' shipped down here for yourself."

"Yeah, it really does make me feel more at home." Gavin nodded.

"Vhat's good." Kurt smiled. "And… Did you see Rogue?" He asked in a low tone.

"Yeah, I did." He told them. "She seems to be okay. I also told her that she should be careful about the Brotherhood."

"Good move there." Scott said, nodding in approval of Gavin's action.

"Still, I'm not sure if that's really enough." The pseudo vampire mused as he continued to eat his pizza.

"Well, we can only do what we can." Scott shrugged.

Kurt nodded in agreement as he ate his lunch. As the three kept eating they saw a rather rotund boy walk in to order food, and then proceeded to have the lunch lady fill up his tray with every food that was offered that particular day, before he started walking to a table.

Kurt looked at the guy in surprise. "Hey, check out dat guy." He told his friends, pointing at him.

They turned to when he was pointing and were surprised at the sight of said boy and his tray of food.

"Yeesh, and I thought you ate a lot." Scott said, his eyebrows raised as he elbowed Kurt lightly. Both laughed as Gavin looked the guy over, he was definitely big, but something seemed familiar about him. Then it clicked.

"Hey… Isn't that the guy Logan and Jean went to see last weekend?" He inquired causing the two to stop laughing and think it over for a moment.

"... Hey yeah, you're right." Scott said in realization.

That's when they saw the guy accidentally slam into Duncan and cause food to fly all over the place. This covered both them and the floor, causing everyone to go into an uproar of laughter.

Duncan glared at the boy, Fred, as he wiped the food off of himself. "Hey, why don't you watch where you're going, ya big blob?"

Fred glared at Duncan before he threw him into the next table, causing food to fly everywhere and before anyone knew it, a food fight had started.

Gavin facepalmed and groaned. "Well, there goes my appetite, later guys." He said as he slowly dissolved into smoke and disappeared, no one else noticed this because he had disappeared through the air ducts.

(A couple days later)

A couple days after Fred first arrived, things kinda calmed down, but the weird thing was that the big lug had actually started taking a liking to Jean, having in fact tried (and failed) twice at trying to ask her out.

And as for Gavin and his twin Devin, the two had actually had a set of mellow interactions over the course of the week, though given that they were objectively on opposing sides there was still plenty of hostility.

And to top it all off, Principal Darklome had put Rogue on a very tight leash after she had found out that the southern belle had started talking to Gavin, which both teens really resented extremely.

Speaking of which, both Jean and Gavin were currently having to deal with their respective problems and each were honestly trying not to let it ignore them.

With Jean she was currently talking to Fred, who was-again-trying trying to ask her out, they were currently standing right next to a sight of school construction.

"Fred, I told you before. I'm already dating someone, I'm sorry." She told him.

"But why don't you try dating me? I'm sure I'm better than that Duncan guy." Fred protested.

Jean sighed. "Look, I'm sure you'll find someone that's for you, but I can't. I'm sorry." She told him as she started walking away. Fred suddenly grabbed her arm and as she tried to struggle, she telekinetically sent several bricks flying at him.

Fred growled as he held his arms up as he blocked the bricks. "You're just not going out with me so you can make fun of me, well, I'm not gonna take it anymore!" He yelled as he slammed his arm into one of the support pipes of the catwalk above them and caused it to crash down on top of Jean.

She was luckily able to stop it with her powers but the mental strain caused her to become weak and pass out. Fred then picked her up and then started carrying her off. All the while, he was seen by Devin and a very familiar red and white haired girl.

Meanwhile Gavin was looking for Rogue when he saw her rounding the corner. This caused him to grin as he ran up to her. "Hey Rogue!" He called as he came up to her.

The girl turned and saw him. "Gavin, Ah was looking for you." She told him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's your friend Jean, that guy Fred's got her." She revealed with an urgent tone.

"What?! Where'd he take her?" He questioned, fearing something really bad might have happened.

"An abandoned warehouse behind the school, you better get the rest of your friends and stop him." She explained.

"Alright. Thanks Rogue, I owe ya one!" He said as he dashed off to find the others.

Rogue sighed as she leaned against a wall, only to be scared to near death when a section suddenly separated, took a humanoid shape and turned a silver color before slowly morphing into Devin.

"Wha-What?!" Rogue gasped as she jumped back. Devin gave her a disapproving look while his skin rippled silver again.

"You are playing a dangerous game, helping my brother while being in the Brotherhood. Do you honestly think you can keep this up for long?" He questioned.

"Ah don't see how that's any of your business." She growled at the boy.

"I'm simply stating the facts." The yakuza boy shrugged. "Now that begs the question: Where exactly do your loyalties lie, Rogue?" Asked Devin as he turned to liquid metal again before slowly disappearing into a storm drain.

Rogue stood there as she watched him leave, his question fresh in her mind. Who exactly should she trust? She wondered. Hopefully, as things continued to unfold, she'd be able to find out soon.

(At an abandoned warehouse)

Gavin and the other had just suited up as they stormed into the building and Fred came storming out. Scott stepped forward and readied his visor.

"_Where's Jean_?" He growled, cranking the dial of his visor.

"Ha! Like I'd tell you!" The large boy laughed.

"Wrong answer." Scott said as he shot a laser straight at the Blob, sending him skidding back as it hit him in the stomach.

Fred quickly (or whatever counts as quick for him) raised his arms to block the beam. "Ha! You think that'll stop me?" He yelled as he hurled a giant generator at them. Kurt teleported out of the way and onto Blob's back, Gavin turned into smoke and reappeared in front of the guy with his sword drawn, Kitty phased through the floor and into the room where she thought Jean was, and saw her tied to a chair. The room itself was, oddly, set up like a date was going to happen.

As she tried to help the redhead out of her trap, Scott tried to blast the generator to avoid being crushed, but the resulting explosion caused him to crash into the wall and his visor was knocked off, the blow causing him to be almost unconscious.

Blob, meanwhile, managed to get Kurt off of him but then yelled in pain as he was slashed across the chest with Gavin's blade and then received a bicycle kick to the face from him, causing him to stagger backward. When he tried to charge at them, he was then blasted back by an _extremely _powerful laser blast. The two boys turned around and saw that it was Rogue, her eyes were glowing red and she was walking up to the three.

"Hey, ugly, didn't anyone tell ya not to pick on people who ain't ya own size?" She sassed at the lumbering mountain of lard.

"What are you gonna do? Knock me out?" He taunted as he readied to punch her.

"Nah. But tell me, did Mystique tell ya what my powah is?" She taunted back before dodging his punches and getting on his back before touching his face. "Mah power is your power and ah can take more than one!" She said this as she flipped him over her shoulder with his own strength, and hurled him into a wall, causing rubble to fall on top of him.

A few seconds later though Blob appeared again and didn't even look phased. "You think that can hurt me? I'm the blob!"

"Nah, yer just a piece of trash that wanted a date, and tell ya what? I'm taking you _out_!" Rogue yelled as she grabbed him again and hurled him into the air and blasted him with Scott's laser vision and sent him through the roof.

After all this, Rogue helped Scott get back up and put his visor on. "Sorry, I took your powers temporarily, you should be fine soon." She told him.

"Thanks for the help Rogue." Gavin said while smiling. "Looks like we all owe you one."

"Yeah… Ah guess ya do." She smiled back at him.

"You know Rogue, the offer to join us still stands, we'd be happy to have you." Jean tells her.

"Thanks, but I can't, not now at least. But I'll think about it." The pale skinned girl replied.

"Well, whenever it is that you decide you want to join us, our doors are always open." Scott said as he sat up.

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." Rogue nodded.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Speed Bump**

Days had passed since the Blob incident and pretty much everyone was glad that it was over, especially Jean who was at the center of the whole fiasco.

As of right now everyone was enjoying their weekend off, the Professor and Wolverine keeping an eye on the kids while Storm was visiting her nephew, Evan, who lived in another part of the state.

And Gavin? He was currently taking his noontime nap inside his coffin, which was part of his routine on weekends and holidays. He was still sleeping soundly when all of a sudden, his alarm clock went off. This alarm was set to play the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, otherwise known as the Dracula theme, every hour on the hour.

Right as the song played, Gavin started rising out of his coffin in a manner not that different from a real vampire, which would scare anyone who saw it slightly if they were present to watch it happen.

The boy yawned as he rubbed his eyes and stretched. "Man, I needed that." He sighed as he turned his alarm off. After that he went over to his dresser drawer and got out a can of crickets he had at the ready and whistled, right before holding out his hand and allowing his pet bat Brownie to roost inside it.

"Supper time, Brownie." The boy smiled as he allowed the bat to eat a handful of crickets from his palm.

After feeding the little creature, it flew up to its roost and then went back to sleep, causing its owner to sigh in exasperation. "Lazy little bum." Gavin snickered.

The boy then put on his regular clothes and started to walk down stairs, heading towards the kitchen for a snack of his own. That's where Gavin saw Logan, who was reading the newspaper. The man looked up at him briefly and then went back to his paper.

The Japanese-American shrugged as he went over to the refrigerator. '_Nice to see you too.' _The boy thought as he opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a KitKat bar he had stashed there for later.

As he was eating his candy, Kurt, Scott and Jean came in.

"Oh hey, look who decided to wake up." Scott said as they all sat down and got their own stuff. "You always sleep till 2:00 in the afternoon?" The boy in shades asked.

"Eh, only on the weekends. Don't ask why, 'cause I don't know either. It's just kinda…. There." Gavin said with a shrug. It was the best explanation he could give right now.

The students continued to go about their business, until Ororo arrived back from her brief trip.

"So, how'd your visit go?" Scott asked.

"All went well, for the most part." Ororo told him before sighing. "Unfortunately though, my nephew, Evan, is not exactly willing to listen to reason and consider letting us help him with his powers." She then added. "Which is why tomorrow I'll be talking to his parents after he finishes school."

"Well, I can't exactly say that I blame the guy." Gavin chimed in, arms rested behind his head. "I mean, the reason why I joined you guys was because it seemed like a good way for me to improve, I was looking for a change, some people just aren't like that. Trying to force them, either directly or indirectly (which is kinda what that plan of yours sounds like) won't help things."

Professor Xavier nodded in agreement at his words. "Gavin is correct. We can't, and _won't,_ force this on Evan." He stated firmly.

"I understand, Charles, but I've got a bad feeling that he'll end up doing something that won't really give me much of a choice." Ororo said solemnly.

(Elsewhere)

_-Evan Daniels' school, the next day-_

Storms nephew, Evan, who was an African American boy with blonde hair that was cut into a butch cut, was currently sifting through his locker, immediately finding that his wallet had been emptied, meaning the boy had been jipped. An occurrence that had been happening all too frequently in recent days…

"Aw man! Not again!" The boy groaned as he shook his wallet.

"What's the matter?" A white haired boy next to him asked. He had appeared out of nowhere from behind the former's open locker door. "Let me guess, got ripped off again?"

Evan groaned in irritation. "Yeah, it happened again, Pietro. I even changed the combination." He replied.

"Huh, this is a real mystery ain't it?" Pietro noted.

"Where'd you come from anyway? I didn't see you." Evan asked his friend/rival.

"I was quiet enough for you to not notice." Pietro replied with a bit of smugness in his tone. "Though I bet I coulda done the same thing at the game last night, but I guess we'll never know." The boy shrugged.

"Hey I know you're fast man but-" Evan tried to say, but was immediately verbally swatted down by Pietro.

"Ah ha! So you admit that I'm faster than you?" The silver haired lad smirked.

"Faster, but not better." The blond haired boy corrected. "I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve." He added.

"Sure ya do, Daniels, like getting ripped off two times this month." Pietro said, jabbing at the boy's apparently vulnerable ego.

"Yeah, well this time I'll be waiting to nail the sleaze ball." Evan nodded, punching his fist into his hand for emphasis.

"Well to do that, you're probably gonna need some bait." The silver haired teen told him, handing him back his wallet and a wad of cash (after having swiped it a few seconds earlier).

Evan, for his part, was surprised but nonetheless grateful. "Wow, thanks man! I'll give it back after I catch the thief." He told his friend while the two did a lock arm hand shake. "Catch ya later." He added before leaving.

"Not even on your best day, Daniels. You'll never catch me." Pietro whispered under his breath as he watched the boy leave.

-_Later that night, Daniels Residence-_

"Man, you just don't quit, do you Auntie O?" Evan groaned as he paced in his living room, his aunt, parents, Jean and Scott were all there too, trying to talk to him about joining the institute. Gavin was there too, mainly because he wanted something to do, but was just sitting there watching the show unfold, which he was thoroughly enjoying.

"She's doing this because she loves you." Jean tried to say.

"This would certainly explain why you keep coming home with holes in your clothes." His mom stated, recalling the numerous times that had happened.

"What's the total number of times that's happened so far?" Gavin asked curiously.

"A little over twenty." The woman replied, making the boy give an impressed whistle.

"We always knew this was a possibility Vi." Ororo told her sister. "While you didn't show any signs of an X-gene as I did. You knew it could show up in later generations."

"It's really not so bad Mrs. Daniels, having your own super powers can be really cool sometimes." Scott added.

"Hells yeah!" Gavin chirped from his corner with a smirk.

"Oh yeah? Tell you what, Shades, why don't you tell what your powers are if they're so great?" Evan snapped.

"Evan!" Ororo warned the blonde.

Evan looked at his aunt. "Sorry, but it's true." He told her before looking at Gavin who was glaring back at him. "What're you looking at?"

"Me? Nothing. Just a little punk who's got absolutely no manners." The pseudo vampire said simply.

"Gavin!" Jean snapped at the boy.

"Don't even start Jean, you know it's true." Gavin stated while crossing his arms, sneering with his lip curled and fangs showing.

Evan actually took a step back at the sight of Gavin's fangs, feeling a little intimidated. Said boy took this opportunity to hiss at the blonde with a vampire hiss he had been practicing since he was a kid. He then gave the blonde a serious look.

"Look, I agree with you on that Evan, some things you need to do yourself. But others? Some things you just can't do alone. Take me for example: my X-gene is so advanced that I had to get both mental blocks and control art seals on both them and my personality to keep it in check." The Japanese American then held up his hands to show the gloves that he was to wear at all times; which had control art seals on them.

"These are my control art seals. They help keep my powers and personality in check, they also have four levels. The others at the institute know what I'm like when it goes down to level 1, which is bad enough. But god forbid anyone sees me when I'm forced to have to release level 0. Because if that happens...nothing in heaven or hell would be able to stop me."

Everyone was quiet when he finished saying that. But that did little to improve Evan's attitude. Not in the slightest.

"Whatever, I'm happy right here where I am, I'm not just gonna go and leave, especially not to a school for freaks." Evan stated before storming up stairs.

"Evan!" His mother called him, but it was too late.

"I'm sorry about my son. I'll go talk to him." The boy's father said as he started to leave.

That's when Jean gasped. "Wait, he's going out the window!"

As it was stated by Jean, Evan was leaving through the window. His destination? His school. Scott ran out with the others to try and stop him, but he was already gone.

"We really gotta work on our sales pitch." He said, Gavin walking onto the porch.

"You guys stay here." The boy said while stretching. "I'll follow him." He added as he dissolved into smoke and disappeared.

"Gavin wait!" Scott said, trying to stop him, but it was too late.

(Meanwhile)

-_Evan's school-_

Evan had just made it to his school and to his locker. His plan was simple: Wait for the thief to show up, and use his own spikes to pin said thief to the wall, whoever it was.

"Alright, thief, hope you're ready, cuz the Spyke man is waiting for ya." Evan said as he waited.

A few seconds passed and then the hallway was then filled with a strong gust of wind that got stronger and stronger, it caused school supplies to blow everywhere and the locks on the lockers started spinning until they unlocked and the doors started flapping around.

Evan fired four spikes into the ground and covered his face as the person causing the gust stopped, revealing it to be Pietro, who was in some sort of costume.

"Wha-? Pietro?" Evan got out in shock. "You got powers too?"

"Hey there, Daniels. Yeah I got 'em, check it out." He then spun around causing all the lockers to open. "Like the costume? Made it myself, took about a quarter of a second." He then took Evan's wallet. "I'll take that back now, thank you."

"You're the one ripping me off? Why?" Evan questioned the boy.

"For the kicks, man, the challenge!" The silver haired lad said before dashing off before returning with purses in hand. "Ya see, when you live as fast as me, I gotta find stuff to occupy my time!"

Evan growled before he tried to punch the silver haired boy in front of him… That went about as well as you'd expect.

"Whoops! Too slow!" Pietro smirked as he dodged and pushed Evan from behind. "Like I said Daniels, you'll never catch me."

"He may not, but I probably can." A voice said, causing the two boys to turn and see Gavin, who was rematerializing from having entered through the air conditioner units. He stood there with Bloodfallen strapped to his waist and his left hand hovering over the handle. "Speed won't count for anything if all you do is just run around like a headless chicken… Which you just might be." He said with an intimidating edge in his tone.

"What are you talking about? Who're you?" Pietro asked as he backed up in fear. Gavin smirked at this and slowly drew his sword out of its sheath and pointed it at the white haired boy.

But before he could do anything, the sound of sirens started coming towards them. "Shit! Who called the cops?!" Gavin yelped.

"Can you say, scapegoat?" Pietro smirked before dashing off before Gavin could stop him.

Gavin looked around in panic as he sheathed his sword. "Okay, plan B. Evan, listen, I know you're not gonna like this, but I gotta get the others, which means I gotta split. I'm sorry." He told the blonde.

"What why? You're just gonna leave me high and dry man?" the blonde questioned.

"Look I don't like this anymore than you do. But we don't exactly have much of a choice here." The Japanese boy told him as he slowly disappeared into smoke and went into the vents.

All Evan could do at that point was stand there like a deer in headlights as the cops came in and saw him.

(Later…)

_-Random jail cell-_

Evan sat in the cell that the police put him in and just kept waiting. The guy with the fangs, Gavin, said he was going to get his aunt and the others, he just hoped he wasn't getting jipped, that wasn't something he wanted to deal with right now.

Right as he was thinking, Ororo, Scott, Jean and his parents all came in. "Evan! Are you alright?" Storm asked in concern.

"Yeah I'm fine." Evan grumbled.

"Yeah, this is the downside to having powers: Use them for the wrong reasons, ya go to jail." Scott told the blonde from the other side of the bars.

"Scott, why don't you shut up? I told you, it wasn't Evan who trashed those lockers. It was that kid, Quicksilver or whatever his name was." Gavin snapped at the red visored lad.

Scott ignored him. "Anyway, we talked to the professor and he's willing to use his connections to get you out of here, and in exchange you give the institute a shot, how's that?"

"I'll tell ya how it is: It sounds like a roundabout method of coercion." Gavin jeered at Scott, getting a smack in the back of the head from Jean.

"Not helping." She stated with a slight glare.

Evan was quiet before he gave a heavy sigh. "Do I really have much of a choice?" He questioned, though the question seemed more rhetorical.

"Hey, there's always a choice Evan. We just wanna help you make it the right one." Scott smiled as he and Evan shook hands.

(A couple days later)

-_Xavier Institute-_

Everyone was having breakfast and they were all currently talking about Evan. And also Gavin's Level 0, which he had never mentioned before.

"So, like, hold on, when you were fighting Mr. Logan, you weren't at your best?" Kitty questioned.

"No, I was only at level 3. I get stronger as I go down the levels, and my personality becomes progressively more and more unhinged. In fact it's because of that, that the therapists that have seen my Level 0 personality had labeled me as "Clinically insane, with sociopathic tendencies and an inflamed god complex'." The Japanese American explained.

Everyone present, minus Charles and Logan, shivered at the thought. They made a collective mental note to never piss him off to that extent, though they wished they could apply that to their enemies.

"It's also the one state that is the hardest to release, mainly because of the three conditions that have to be met for the seals to be broken." Gavin shrugged. "Anyway, Jean pass the sausage please."

The redhead did as requested and used her powers to make the plate of food float in Gavin's direction. Gavin took three and waved the plate away.

"Thanks." Gavin said to her.

"That aside, how is our new addition?" Xavier asked.

"Still in his room, getting settled." Jean explained. "Though honestly, who could blame him? After all he's gone through lately."

"Yeah, I feel sorry for the poor guy." Kitty nodded.

"Well if you ask me, I think the kid's got something else on his mind other than that." Logan said. "Pass the sausages, will ya Red?" He added as he deployed his metal claws.

Jean telekinetically passed the sausage to him as He took some while Kitty wrinkled her nose. "Ew, that stuff, like, really clogs your arteries." She stated.

"Has that ever really stopped us?" Gavin deadpanned as he took a bite of sausage.

"... Good point." The ghost-like girl conceded.

"Gah! Elf!" Logan growled as he tried to stop himself from falling out of his chair when he saw Kurt hanging from the chandelier trying to get some pancakes.

"Sorry. Didn't want to interrupt." He told the man.

"What do I keep telling you? Ask and it'll get passed to ya." Logan berated the boy as he teleported back to his seat. "That's better, now as I was saying."

"Yes, what exactly are you saying Logan?" Xavier Asked.

"I may not be a mind reader like you or Jean, but I know what goes on in a young man's head when he's been wronged." Logan told the telepath.

"Yes, you're right. Which is why I've decided to already enroll Evan into Bayville high, as well as speak to the basketball coach to allow him to join, hopefully to keep his mind off of it." Xavier nodded.

"Good idea, coach'll jump at him." Kitty nodded.

"If you ask me, I think you're just prolonging the inevitable." Gavin stated as he downed his glass of milk.

"Well regardless, let us hope that Evan's desire for revenge is short lived." Xavier nodded.

As they were talking, Evan listened from the top of the stairs. His spikes poked through his clothes in aggravation as he went back to his room to get ready for the day.

(Elsewhere…)

_-Bayville high, Darkholme's office-_

The brotherhood was all sitting outside of the woman's office, two in particular: Devin and Rogue were showing obvious signs of aggravation from just being in the same vicinity of the other members, but both for different reasons.

Meanwhile, principal Darkholme was in her office talking to someone, someone who was in the dark corner of the room, his appearance partially concealed, but was clearly in some sort of red and purple suit with a cape.

"You've come at a rather interesting time, sir." Darkholme said to the man as she sat at her desk. "What brings you here?"

"I'm not here for your little community meeting, Mystique, I am here because there is a mutant I wish for you to recruit." The man said as a holographic image of Pietro appeared. "His name is Pietro Maximoff, he is of, particular interest to me."

Then an image of Evan appeared next to Pietro's. "He has a long time rivalry with Evan Daniels." The man said, gesturing to the image.

"Ah, that's the new student that Xavier enrolled here this week." The woman nodded. "What does this have to do with the other boy?"

"Pietro is headstrong and believes that he doesn't need anyone, but we must have him. His abilities are too strong to lose to Xavier, so I will need you to give him the necessary push." The man told her.

"Very well then, and I think I have the perfect way to bring them together." The principal grinned as she started dialing the phone.

"Excellent." The man nodded.

(The following night)

-_Bayville High-_

Gavin and the others were all walking to the school the next night, apparently the principal had scheduled a game between their school and Evan's old one at the last minute, which seemed rather odd.

As they were walking to the building, Pietro suddenly showed up. Evan stormed up to his old rival and then the two started arguing, causing the others to join in.

"Hey, what's going on?" Scott questioned.

"None of your business." Pietro snapped back at the teen in shades.

"Hang on, he's the kid who trashed those lockers." Gavin told them.

"That true?" Scott asked.

Pietro smirked as he crossed his arms. "Ya know what? Yeah, I trashed those lockers. What? You gonna do something about it?" He challenged him.

"Oh I'm gonna do something about it." Evan growled as he went for the speedster, only for it to prove to be a fruitless effort.

"Ooh, sounds like a challenge! But you're gonna have to catch me first!" Pietro snarked before speeding down the street.

"After him!" Gavin called out to the group.

The four all chased after him and the silver haired speedster sped down the road past a bunch of cars, causing a wind tunnel and the cars to be wrecked in the process.

"We need to stop him, before he does any more damage!" Jean told the guys, who had changed into their costumes.

"On it. Scott, I need someone of authority's permission to release my seals, do I have your permission to release Level 2?" Gavin asked while adjusting his seal covered gloves.

"Permission granted." Scott nodded.

Gavin then took a deep breath. "Control Art Seal release: Level 2." He said before he started speaking in an odd language, though Jean could tell it was probably an old European language. As he finished the incantation he opened his eyes and the others could see that his expression completely changed, now it was as if he was looking down at those in front of him, with obvious disdain in his gaze at the silver speedster ahead of them.

The pseudo vampire raised his hand and his dark smoke started covering the highway until it boxed the boy in, causing him to slam into it as if it were a brick wall.

Pietro shook his head as he slowly got up. "What the?" He wondered aloud as he tapped the wall of air in front of him. "Okay, this is weird."

That was soon met with Gavin appearing right beside him and kicking him in the stomach, sending him backwards.

"Gotcha." Gavin taunted with a smirk.

"What? You think you'll be able to hold me? I'm the fastest thing alive! No one can catch me!" Quicksilver snarked as he gripped his stomach. "You won't even be able to touch me, freak."

"You've got nothing but insults, have you? A tired little-" Gavin tried to say while standing ready with his sword drawn, but was sucker punched out of nowhere by Quicksilver at blinding speed.

"Sorry, what was that?" The boy chuckled, holding a hand to his ear.

Gavin hissed before he lunged at the boy with a slash of his sword and started attacking with his weapon and speeds that rivaled the speedster. The two locked into a clash before Pietro suddenly thrust his knee into Gavin's groin, but surprisingly, the pseudo vampire didn't even flinch in the slightest.

"Please, this isn't a bar fight, have some class." He said to the silver haired lad smugly. This was met with a swift headbut to the skull by Pietro before he started running away. "Jean, now!" Gavin growled.

The red haired telepath took action and lifted the silver blur off the ground with her powers, causing said boy to look around in confusion and mild panic. His feet were still going, which caused him to start spinning until he started creating a small tornado in the street.

"Get ready, baby! It's twister time!" The boy laughed as the wind he made started lifting things off the ground.

Scott and Evan grabbed onto a light post for support while Gavin was able to keep grounded by digging into the concrete.

"Evan! Lock and load!" Scott yelled over the howling wind.

Evan did so and prepared his spikes for a shot. Once Scott was sure he was ready, he fired a laser at the center of the twister, hoping to hit Pietro. His luck won out, if Pietro crying out in pain was anything to go by.

Gavin then tackled him mid air and _slammed _him into the adjacent wall, causing it to crack and let Evan shoot spikes to pin him down, which made the silver haired boy struggle.

"Grr, you think you've one Daniels? You haven't, you still can't prove I trashed those lockers!" Pietro growled while trying to get free.

"Oh, sounds like a challenge!" Evan said mockingly before pulling out a tape recorder, which played the silver blur's confession for all to hear.

After Evan left the recorder at the scene, the group then left, Gavin returning to normal as soon as the fight was over.

Not a moment later, the police arrived on the scene.

(Next day)

-_Xavier Institute-_

Everyone was relaxing at the pool the day after that and were having a great time. Gavin though, was out in the sun, sun bathing with a reflector on a pool chair.

"I thought vampires hated the sun." Scott laughed as the boy gave him a 'don't 't even joke about that' look over his round Oakley sunglasses.

"Well this one does." The boy sighed.

Meanwhile Ororo and Xavier were both with Evan who was talking to them. "So Evan, I've heard that you were cleared of all charges." Xavier noted.

"Yeah, it feels good to have that off my record." He replied with a nod.

"What a relief." Ororo sighed happily.

Evan smiled as he ran over to where the others were and jumped into the air, about to do a dive bomb.

"You know Ororo, I'd say your nephew will be fitting in just fine here." Xavier said before Evan crashed into the water and caused a huge wave, splashing everyone and popping Kitty's raft in the process, as well as soaking Gavin.

"Yes, but I have to wonder, is that a good thing?" The woman asked as she watched her nephew have fun and the others all trying to get him.

(Elsewhere that night)

-_Bayville county jail-_

Pietro was in the county jails main cell and was trying to bust out, all the while yelling for someone to let him out. Though he stopped when everything metal started to move and the man who was in Principal Darkholme's office came in front of the cell door.

"Hello Pietro. It's been a long time." The man said.

"You…" Pietro said in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"To help you of course. But, in return, I am in need of your services, if you think you can handle the job." The mystery man explained firmly.

"Yeah, anything man. Just let me outta here." The silver haired runner responded, wanting to get out of his cell.

"Impatient as always. Just remember I won't offer this again." The man said.

"Alright, fine, now come on and let's bail this jail!" Pietro said as he kept pulling on the bars of the cell.

"Excellent." Said the figure as the bars bent to the side and the boy stepped out. "Now come, the best is yet to come."

**Author note: In regards to feedback, and lack thereof.**

**Dear readers, it has become apparent to both my Co author, Thermalsnipern7 and I that we've been getting a large influx of Follows and Favorites, but have not gotten very many new reviews. This is a troubling development for a few reasons: **

**One; this either means you guys like it and we're doing okay, or just well enough to where you don't have to say anything then that's fine, but we can't do any better if you won't say anything. **

**Two; it makes it seem like we're boring you or maybe that you guys don't feel like you'd be heard if you suggested something. But this is untrue, your opinion counts. If you have suggestions, let us know. If you have questions, ask. If you have critiques, tell them, we won't bite (unless your comments are completely inappropriate or unhelpful).**

**Please dear readers, we need feedback if we're going to avoid losing readers. Please help us out, we need your help. That is all. Thank you.**

**-Dragon Emperor0**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Stuck in the Middleverse **

Life at Bayville high had been pretty mundane for the X-men as of late, especially the more energetic members like Evan and Kurt. However something exciting was going to be going on this week in particular, the event in question? The yearly party at none other than Duncan Matthews place, a big bash everyone (except maybe the freshman) attended every time it was held.

In fact, this party was the exact topic of the group's discussion as they ate lunch in the school courtyard. However, the odd thing was, though, that Gavin was nowhere to be seen.

"A party at Matthews' place, are you kidding me? Why would you guys wanna go?" Scott questioned his teammates.

"I don't know Scott, it honestly sounds like fun." Jean told him.

"Hey, you gonna finish that Moo Juice?" Evan questioned Scott as he pointed to a whole carton that was next to the elder of the twos tray.

"You can have mine." Jean said as she handed Evan her juice.

"And besides, Matthews is a jerk anyway." Scott then mused bitterly.

"I'm with Jean, why shouldn't we go?" Kitty asked. "I mean I'm sure he isn't that bad."

"The party's no freshmen allowed." Scott told her.

"Man, Matthews is a jerk." The valley girl pouted.

As Evan started chugging his drink down while putting the empty carton on a rather large pile, Scott continued. "I'm just cautious here; I mean, suppose someone gets too close to Kurt? His holowatch won't keep people from feeling his fur." The shaded boy told the group as he jabbed a thumb at the fuzzy blue teleporter.

"Aw come on, Scott, chicks dig the fozzy dude." Kurt told him while elbowing him playfully before smiling at Kitty. "Right Kitty?"

Kitty backed away a bit. "Urg, I am so outta here." She huffed before leaving.

Kurt sighed before smiling. "See? She can't resist."

"Yeah, sure man." Evan said while rolling his eyes.

"All I'm saying is that we should be careful, I mean what if Alvers, Dukes, or Maximoff start a fight? We're not the only mutants at school you know." Scott stated while looking at the brotherhood members.

"Nah, just the cool ones." Evan stated before high fiving Kurt.

"Speaking of other mutants, where's Gavin? He's been disappearing a lot lately." Jean asked as she looked around.

"What do you mean?" Evan asked.

"Well, he's been disappearing during and after school to who knows where and comes back at eleven o'clock at night. The Professor tried to ask him himself, but he never got a straight answer." The redhead explained.

"What, do you think he's been living a double life or something?" Scott asked her.

Jean just shrugged as Kurt piped up. "Ah, come on, guys! If he's decided to live it up, why can't we? It's time to let loose!" The boy said before jumping on the table and started dancing. "Party Party Party! Shake that tail-whoo hoo!" The boy cheered before his tail became visible.

"Hey, watch the tail!" Scott snapped before yanking him down by said appendage.

"Dude! You just pulled my tail!" Kurt snapped at him indignantly.

"You were obnoxious," Scott stated sternly.

"And you're seriously cramping my style!" The opposing boy growled.

"Can't you ever listen and learn to grow up?" Scott snapped.

"No, you listen! There's a sound I want you to hear, and it's-" Kurt snapped before he teleported away with a 'bampf' sound.

Scott coughed as he waved away the smoke and sighed. "I blew that, didn't I?" He sighed.

"Oh yeah." Jean nodded.

(Elsewhere with Gavin, at the time the conversation started)

Gavin was currently sitting up against a tree while reading a copy of the Dracula: Untold novel form, and was also right next to Rogue, who was also reading a book. Both had their long sleeved articles of clothing off, letting their skin soak up the sun. Gavin had started this little outing tradition to try and help Rogue acclimate to being around other people, which was rather useful since he was pretty much the only one who could touch her.

The southern girl leaned over his shoulder and started to read his book with him. "Are ya sure this is a good idea?" She asked him as their shoulders touched, causing her to shiver.

"If it's both our sides finding out about this that you're worried about, then I wouldn't bother." Gavin replied while stroking her arm. "It's like I told you before, this is a no strings attached friendship, I just wanna let you experience what it's like to touch someone, I'm not looking for anything in return, Rogue."

"I know, but still, if Mystique finds out she might-" She tried to protest before Gavin put a finger to her lips to keep her quiet.

"I can handle myself, don't worry." He told her before getting up. "I gotta get going, I'll see you tonight, okay? Around, say, 7:00?" He asked while he slowly inched away from the skin to skin contact they just had.

Rogue nodded with a blush, still feeling the warmth of his body on hers. "S-Sure, seven's fine." She told him. The boy chuckled as he left to join his other friends.

As he left, Rogue pulled the rest of her clothes on and continued reading. But that was soon interrupted by Kurt suddenly appearing out of nowhere and crashing in a basement area of the school. As she went to investigate, Kurt groaned as he laid on top of a pile of boxes he landed on.

"Oh... I have got to work on my reentry." Kurt groaned as his holowatch suddenly fizzled out, revealing his true form. "Oh, no!"

Meanwhile, Rogue heard the commotion and went to check it out.

"Hello? Is someone there?" She called into the basement.

Hearing her voice, Kurt started panicking. Looking around, he saw a door with a sign that read 'Stay Out.' Deciding to take a chance, he teleported to the other side.

Once he was in, he got a look at his surroundings. From what he could tell, it looked like an old laboratory. Getting a little curious, he walked up to the computers. In his curiosity, he failed to take note of the security laser near his feet.

As soon as the alarm was tripped, every monitor in the room came to life and the image of a teenager with tan skin and long black hair was shown. "June 9th, 1978. If you're seeing this, this means that you have exactly five seconds before this lab self-destructs. Have a nice day, or what's left of it." It said before a countdown clock appeared.

Kurt's eyes widened in alarm before he tried to run. But the clock finished counting and the lab suddenly blew up, causing him to be blown back towards the door.

Meanwhile, Rogue had just arrived outside the lab's doors and was about to open it when it suddenly exploded and sent Kurt flying out and into some boxes..

"Wha-What happened?" The southern girl asked, walking up to him.

"Lab… Boobie trapped." He groaned in pain as his body ached.

Rogue looked at the door to the now ruined lab before walking in and taking a look around. "Well whatever this place was, it's trashed now." She then looked around and saw an odd looking machine in the corner. She walked over to it and picked it up. "What's this?" she wondered.

Kurt managed to regain his bearings at this point and walked into the lab. That's when he saw Rogue with the device, fearing something would happen, he ran over to her and started to grab it from her. "Hey, gimme that!" He told her.

Naturally, Rogue tried to resist and struggled to keep her hands on it. "No you let go, blue boy!" She snapped before her finger accidentally hit one of the machine's buttons and it blasted Kurt and then it caused him to be surrounded in a dome of light before disappearing.

Rogue dropped the machine in shock before she felt the space where Kurt used to be to see if he was still there... He wasn't. "He's gone…" She gasped.

"How interesting…" A voice said inside the room, more specifically coming from the floor. Rogue jumped back as the floor rose into the shape of a human and it slowly turned metallic and then slowly into the shape of Devin. "Mind if I take a look at that?" He questioned.

"Why would Ah give it to you?" She snapped, backing up, but was tripped up by Devin using his liquid metal to grab her leg, causing her to drop the machine.

"It wasn't a request, Rogue." He stated as he picked it up. "Now don't get in my way if you know what's good for you, we wouldn't want Mystique to find out about your little 'outings' with my brother now, would we?"

Rogue froze right there in shock. '_How does he know?!' _ She thought, feeling alarmed.

(Elsewhere)

Toad was trying to get a roach that he planned on eating, but a green car drove in front of him before he could get it. "Aww, my lunch." He whined.

Principal Darkholme stepped out of the car and glared at the boy. "What do you think you are doing Mr. Talansky?" She snapped.

"Uh, nothing." He gulped.

"Well then, I suggest you get going." She told him. "And another thing, if I see any slime on my new car, I will make sure you have detention for a very long time, understand?" She growled.

"Y-Yes ma'am." He nodded before hopping off to get away from her, before bumping into Devin, who was carrying the device that Rogue found.

"Watch where you're going you insolent frog!" Devin growled as he turned his arm into a claw and pinned the other boy to a tree.

"Whoa, hey easy there! Sorry." The boy said in defense before noticing the machine in Devin's hands. "Hey, whatcha got there?"

"None of your concern." Devin shot back with a glare. "Now get out of my sight before I make you regret it."

"Sheesh, what is this? Abuse the Toad day?" Toad grumbled before he shot out his tongue and wrapped it around one of the device's handles, then tried to pull it away from him.

Devin growled before he pried Toad's tongue from the device and threw it aside. He then whipped him around into a wall before turning his hand into a spike and pinned him to a wall.

"Listen to me _very _carefully, Toad; If you _ever _try and touch me with that filthy tongue again, I will grab it and rip it and all your insides right out of you, am I understood?" He growled, pushing the spike into the boy's neck.

"M-Mystique would never-" Toad tried to say but was cut off by the spike being pushed harder.

"Mystique does not control me. I told all of you that I only joined you to get stronger than my brother, and that if any of you got in my way, I would end you. She serves _my _needs, not the other way around." Devin growled as he dropped the boy and started walking away.

Toad shook his head, and then lunged, kicking him from behind, causing the liquid metal mutant to stumble forward and drop the machine, which Toad caught while jumping over him. The boy then turned and pressed one of the buttons, and a ray shot Devin and in a flash of light, he disappeared.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was heading to his next class when he saw Toad out the corner of his eye, who was hopping around with the machine.

"What is he doing?" The boy asked as he headed to his locker, where he was then met by both Jean and Scott. "What's up guys?" He asked.

"Kurt's disappeared. Have you seen him anywhere?" Scott asked.

The pseudo vampire shook his head. "No I haven't. I also haven't seen my brother anywhere either, which has me thinking…" He then turned back to where he saw Toad, but didn't see him, at least until he saw him hop into the principal's office. "That Toad May have something to do with it."

(Elsewhere)

-_Alternate Dimension-_

Devin looked around as he tried to figure out where he was, before he noticed he was in some sort of space that looked like the school, but almost as if it were out of a ghost story.

"What is this? Where am I?" Devin questioned. That's when he heard the sound of things crashing. Going to investigate he saw Kurt who was dodging furniture that was falling from the ceiling out of thin air.

As he was dodging, the blue fuzz ball didn't notice a car that was about to fall on top of him. Groaning, Devin lunged at him and tackled him out of the way of the falling vehicle.

As the two got up, Kurt jumped back and looked ready to fight. "I know you! You're Gavin's brother, right?" He questioned.

Devin raised his hand as he showed he meant no harm. "Calm yourself, blue one. I'm not here to fight. Besides, if I wanted, you'd be dead already."

"Then Vhat do you want?" He asked.

"Same as you, a way out of here." The boy told him. "Now come on."

The two walked through the ghostly hallways until they reached the gym, they looked around and didn't see anyone there. That is until Kurt nearly jumped out of his skin when someone came right up behind them. Both boys turned around and they saw a guy around their age standing there, and it was the same guy from the lab.

Devin immediately transformed his left arm into a curved scythe and Kurt looked ready to fight, but the guy backed up.

"Whoa! Hey! Easy there." He said in defense.

Both boys looked at each other then at him. "Does he look familiar to you at all, Wagner?" Devin asked.

"Yeah. I saw his face on some monitors back at the lab." Kurt replied, earning the attention of the boy in question. "Anyway, don't worry man, I won't hurt you,.I'm a harmless blue fuzz ball." He stated.

"Okay, But who are you guys?" The guy asked.

"I'm Kurt Vagner. I'm a mutant, and this is Devin, he's a mutant too." Kurt told him. "I know I look scary but-" He then teleported next to the boy. "There are some fringe benefits."

Devin rolled his eyes as the other boy smiled. "Trippy, I thought I was the only one." He said before his arm transformed into some sort of robotic appendage.

(Meanwhile)

Gavin and the others were now in pursuit of Toad who was trying to get away from them after they saw him make the furniture in the principal's office disappear.

"Don't let him get away." Scott told them.

"Evan, lock and load!" Gavin told the blonde.

Evan nodded as he shot one of his spikes at the hopping mutant and pinned him to a tree, causing him to drop the machine, which Scott grabbed.

Gavin grabbed Toad by the collar and hissed at him. "Where's Kurt and Devin, stink breath? Start talking." He growled.

"I'm telling ya, I don't know! All I know is that thing made him disappear." Toad yelped in fear.

Gavin threw him down as he drew his sword and pointed at him. "Give me one good reason why I should believe you." He hissed.

"How about because if you don't, you won't see your friend again?" A voice said. Everyone turned and saw that it was Rogue.

"Rogue, What? Why?" Gavin asked in confusion.

"It's nothing personal, Gavin." Rogue told him. "Now let him go."

"Who's side are you on?" Jean questioned.

"I'm on my own side, and besides, you owe me." Rogue snapped. Scott was about to do something, but Gavin stopped him, letting toad go.

"She's right, Scott, we owe her." He told the older teen. He then looked at Rogue before she looked back at him regretfully. He looked at her and nodded as the two left.

_-In Middleverse-_

Back in the dimension, Kurt and Devin were helping Forge, the boy they just met, build something. According to the teen the dimension they were in was called the Middleverse, and in order to get out they needed help from the other side.

"So hold on, we're gonna need help from the other side to get out by resetting that gizmo of yours?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah. But you'll have to be quick." Forge nodded as he finished what he was working on. "And finished."

"What is it?" Devin asked.

"This will let Kurt stay in the physical world for a few seconds to tell his friends to reset my projector, but only for a few seconds, these batteries don't have much power." Forge told him.

"Well then, let's hope the fool can do it right." Devin snorted.

Forge looked at Kurt as they got set up as the blue mutant chuckled nervously. "I… Kinda have that rep."

_-With the others-_

The others all got down to the basement and set the machine down. "Okay, so what should we do with this thing?" Scott asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Let's trash this thing!" Evan said.

"What? Are you nuts?!" Gavin snapped. "What if it's the only way to bring both of them back?!"

_-Middleverse-_

"Alright! Atta boy Gavin!" Kurt cheered.

"I can't believe this… Even though I'm fundamentally his enemy… He's still willing to help me?" Devin gasped in disbelief.

Forge then finished setting up. "Okay. Done, now you gotta press this button and then teleport. Then tell them to reset the projector."

"Right." Kurt nodded as he pressed the button and then teleported.

_-Back with the others-_

"Gavin, What are you talking about?" Scott questioned.

Before he could answer, Kurt appeared right in front of them. "Reset, don't-" Kurt said before he was cut off by him disappearing.

"What the heck was that?" Gavin asked.

"Wait, he said 'reset, don't…' He wants you to blow it up!" Even chimed in.

"No, that can't be right. He said reset, then don't. If he wanted us to destroy it, he could've said don't reset." Scott noted. "So why say reset, then don't? I think he's trying to warn us."

"A warning? From the goof man himself? No way, come on let's just nuke this thing." Evan told him.

-_Middleverse_-

"Wow you really do have a rep." Forge said to Kurt as they watched the group.

"Told you." Devin scoffed.

"Not helping." Kurt snapped. That's when Evan said to destroy the projector.

"No! They've got it all wrong! If they destroy the device, we'll be stuck here forever!" Forge exclaimed in alarm, much to Kurt's and Devin's horror.

-_With the others-_

"Now hang on, Evan." Gavin stated as he got in between the others and the machine. "Nightcrawler may be a goof, but even he knows when to get serious." He then turned to Scott expectantly. "Scott help me out here."

"Gavin's right, I really think he's telling us to reset this thing." Scott nodded.

"Yeah, but should we let Devin out? He might try to, like, kill us." Kitty noted.

"Are you seriously asking that?! Of course! Devin may be a self entitled, condescending, and narcissistic jerk. But he's my brother, and I will _never _abandon him, no matter what." Gavin snapped.

-_Middleverse_-

Devin felt a mix of emotions: Irritation at the insults he just heard from his brother, and remorse since he felt was now beginning to feel like he made a mistake in joining Mystique's group.

'_Was… Was I wrong to go against him?'_ He thought to himself.

"Alright! You da man Scott!" Kurt cheered as he and Forge high fived.

"But we're not out of the woods yet, we need another power source!" Forge informed the two.

"And I know just the thing, come on." Kurt said, before turning to Devin. "Let's go man, worry about your bro later!"

The Japanese American shook his head as he followed them. "R-Right." He nodded as he followed them.

-_Back with the others-_

Scott looked over the projectors settings. "Beam width, timer, here it is! Restart." He said as he then pressed the button and the device was rebooting as it shot a beam out and opened a portal.

"I sure hope they get through." Gavin said. "Come on Devin, come on." He whispered. But just then the rest of the Brotherhood arrived, making things a lot more complicated.

-_Middleverse_-

The three boys all arrived at Darkholme's car and Forge helped Kurt hook the device up to the car's battery while Devin helped hotwire it.

"You know how to hotvire a car?" Kurt asked.

"Perks of being raised by the yakuza." Devin said as he got the car running. "Now start driving!"

-_With the others-_

The remaining X-men were now standing in front of the Brotherhood, who had apparently followed them.

"Guys, protect the portal the best you can." Scott ordered.

"Right." They all nodded.

The groups all charged at each other as they all clashed together. Blob was currently fighting Scott, Toad was getting beaten by Jean, and Kitty was trying not to be slammed into a wall by Lance, and both Gavin and Evan were in the middle of corralling Pietro.

As Gavin appeared behind the speedster faster than he could react, he backhanded him into a wall, which Evan followed up by pinning him with his spikes.

As everyone else was fighting for their lives, the car the other three were using suddenly came barreling out of the portal and straight towards Blob and the other guys.

Fred's eyes widened as he grabbed the car's hood and skid back and just barely managed to stop it from squishing them. "Whew, good thing I'm a blob." He sighed in relief.

"You can say that again." Toad nodded.

"Welcome back, guys." Gavin said before noticing Forge. "Who's he?" He asked.

"This is Forge." Kurt told them. "He's cool."

Devin got out of the car as he looked at Gavin, who looked back at him, both stared at each other for a couple seconds before Devin looked away. "Thank you, for not abandoning me." He whispered just enough to where he could hear.

Gavin looked at him in surprise but his brother just turned to Kurt. "Wagner." The Blue fuzz ball turned towards him. "You could have just left me in that world, but instead, you not only brought me back with you, but also trusted me to help you." Devin said, while bowing. "For that I thank you, and I am in your debt."

Kurt looked at him in surprise before speaking. "There's no need for that. Being stuck in that dimension would drive anyone mad." He stated.

Devin nodded as he gestured for the rest of the Brotherhood to follow him out, leaving the X-men alone in the basement.

(Later…)

Everyone was now in Scott's car, except for Gavin, who was on his personal bike. They were talking to Forge.

"You sure you don't want to come with us to the Institute? I'm sure the professor would love to have you." Jean asked him.

"Nah, I gotta check on my parents, I'm twenty years past curfew." Forge chuckled. "Thanks anyway though."

"Are they even still at the same address?" Gavin asked curiously.

"I sure hope so." Forge laughed.

"Well, if you ever need anything, just give us a call." Scott told him while handing him a card.

Forge took it with a nod before walking off.

(Elsewhere)

-_Rocky Mountains-_

Up in the Rockies several men in black body armor with green logos that looked like a skull with tentacles on their chests stood in front of a cave with their guns pointed at the entrance.

"Experiment H11-Tiamat, come out with your hands up, we have you surrounded." One of the soldiers ordered.

That's when the ground started to shake as the sound of huge footsteps were heard coming from the cave, then as the steps slowed, it soon revealed that inside the cave was a massive Red European Dragon that was probably the size of five stacked school buses (tall) and five buses (long) not counting the tail, meaning it was possibly even larger, it's wings stretched twice that. It's scales were segmented in an overlapping diamond pattern, and it's skull had two ram-like horns. It's body however was not very bulky, but rather slender and compact, most likely meaning it was female. Lastly it's eyes were a sharp and piercing green.

The dragon stared down at the men as it's scales glistened in the moonlight of the mountain sky, it snarled before the creases in the scales on its neck slowly glowed fiery orange as flames gathered in its mouth and it blasted a torrent of flames down upon them with a loud and ear shattering roar which drowned out the terrified screams of the men as they were burned to ashes.

The dragon snorted as it scattered the ashes of the men with its tail as it turned back to its home and stomped back into the cave again, leaving behind the melted and smoldering remains of the soldiers and their weapons as they sat there in the night sky.

**And with that readers, I leave you to guess who that might have been. Also for design reference, see this link: ** monsters/ancient-red-dragon


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Turned **

_-The night after the Middleverse incident-_

After the Middleverse incident, everyone was going to Duncan Matthews party... Well, everyone except Gavin, who had opted to instead go to the usual meeting place where he and Rogue usually met up. That being a park that was near the Xavier mansion and the Brotherhood's boardinghouse.

The boy ran as he tried to get there on time but ended up running late. The auburn haired southern belle was sitting on a bench in the park, and was waiting for him.

"Hey, sorry about that, things got crazy at the Institute. I hope I didn't keep you waiting." Gavin heaved as he ran up to her and leaned over while trying to catch his breath.

Rogue smiled a bit as she waved his concern off.

"Not that long. Ah've only been here for five minutes." She assured him.

"Oh good." He said as she got up with him, both then started walking to a nearby dance club, which was called the "Bayville Ballroom" which they regularly went to. As they entered the club was dimly lit with neon colored strobe lights all over the place and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling.

The two then went to a booth as both discarded their jackets, revealing that Rogue was wearing a completely new outfit: She was showing more skin as she wore a dark purple halter top, long purple gloves that come up to about her shoulders, and a knee length skirt covered with a white chain that hangs around her waist. She also had on knee high boots, and a light purple scarf that protected her neck and chest areas.

Gavin immediately started to blush at the sight of this outfit, having gotten used to her usual gothic get up. This one honestly looked kinda hot on her. "N-Nice outfit, by the way." He told her sheepishly.

"Thanks." She smiled back.

The two ordered their drinks. Gavin ordered a Coke with extra cherry flavoring added, and Rogue ordered a Sherry Temple, her usual drink.

As the two waited for their drinks Gavin decided to bring up a topic he had been wanting to talk to her about. "So, have you given 'it' any thought?" He asked. 'It' referred to Rogue defecting from the Brotherhood and joining the X-men, which he brought up every other outing.

Rogue looked down in thought for a moment as she went over her thoughts on the matter. Ever since these outings began, she started having doubts related to what Mystique was telling her.

"Yeah, Ah have, but I need a little more time, I need to know for certain if what Mystique told me was wrong about the rest of the X-men, and not just you." She told him.

The boy nodded before he took her hand as their drinks arrived. "And our contact training, has it helped with your powers at all lately?" He questioned.

"I'm not sure, honestly." She shrugged. "But, I think they may be helping, at least a little."

Gavin smiled at her warmly. "That's good."

"So, uh, Gavin?" Rogue asked nervously.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"That guy with the shades, Scott, is he really as bad as the Brotherhood makes him out to be?" She asked while blushing.

This surprised the boy, but he just shrugged and decided to answer her question. "Well, ya see, Scott's kinda hard to pin down…" He said as he started to explain it to her.

As the two were talking, one of the waitresses who was cleaning the table next to them glared at them at the corner of her eye before she got up and walked away behind a corner, away from the crowd. She then suddenly changed shape into none other than Principal Darkholme!

"So, that's how it is, is it?" The woman hissed before stepping out of the club and started walking down the street. "Very well then, Mr. Shirakumo. Two can play at that game."

-_The next morning-_

In the danger room everyone was doing a rescue simulation, and everyone was doing their own roles, both Evan and Kitty took out the guards (played by Wolverine and Storm), and Kurt, Scott, Jean and Gavin were doing the rescuing.

Gavin, meanwhile, was on lookout duty, which honestly irritated him. "Remind me again why I can't just get in through the air vents by just turning into smoke?" He asked Scott.

"Too risky, one wrong move and you might trip the alarm." Scott said as he removed a panel from the roof. As they looked down Gavin noticed that there was someone under a tarp behind a bunch of lasers, he could tell it was someone because of the pale hand that stuck out from the tarp. "Storm! You okay?" Scott tried to call in a voice just above a whisper.

As soon as he said that Gavin immediately knew something was off. For one, Storm was playing the role of a guard, not the hostage. And the hostage's skin was way too pale for it to be her. "Storm? That's not-" but his statement was too late, as Jean was already telekinetically floating them down.

As Scott tried to get to the covered figure, it was immediately revealed to be in actuality, Rogue. Gavin's eyes widened in shock. "It's a trap!" He yelled.

That's when the Rogue look-alike touched Scott and used his own powers to fire a laser at Kurt. Scott looked at him before waving his arms. "Hold on, stop the simulation!" He yelled.

Their surroundings were suddenly replaced with the danger room. Xavier and the others followed him down into the training area.

"Scott, you know you are not to stop a simulation unless you are injured." Xavier chided.

"Speak for yourself professor, I'm pretty sure that really hurt." Kurt groaned as he got up.

"And what was with that? Rogue wasn't part of the briefing." Scott said.

"It was merely the element of surprise. I am merely trying to prepare you for every possible outcome." The man stated.

"And what about Rogue?" Gavin asked as everyone looked at him. "Are we honestly supposed to think that we have a chance of winning her over if this is what we think of her behind her back? Trust is a two way street, ya know."

Everyone was silent as his statement sunk in. What he said was definitely true. How could they expect her to trust them if they couldn't show her the same courtesy?

-_Later that day-_

Scott and Jean were walking to the parking lot of the school so that they could get to the bus in time for a field trip that was happening. Gavin was supposed to go too, but unfortunately Principal Darkhölme kept him from going for some reason, though if he was being honest, he didn't really feel like going anyway.

"So he threw off your game by sticking Rogue in the simulation, what's the big deal?" Jean asked.

"Me messing up isn't the problem." Scott retorted.

"What then? Because he chose Rogue?" The redhead questioned.

"Yeah, I guess. Look, I'm just saying, Gavin did have a point. Honestly how are we supposed to expect her to join us if we keep thinking of her as the enemy?" Scott questioned.

"It was just a simulation Scott, and besides, you know that the professor wants to trust Rogue just as much as us. He's just trying to prepare us for what may happen is all." Jean told him. "No one's trying to stop you from trying with Rogue."

Little did the two know that as they passed one of the school's darker alleyways, principal Darkhölme heard the entire conversation as she smirked and started walking off towards the school.

(Elsewhere)

Rogue was in the middle of doing some kick boxing with a large punching bag, and then took a break and looked out the window, seeing the geology club getting ready for their trip. She sighed sadly as she looked on, her gaze lingering on Scott.

That was before she turned around and saw the principal standing there. "Principal Darkholme!" She gasped.

"He's never going to be your friend Rogue, you know that don't you?" The woman questioned.

"Who? Scott? I don't want to be friends with him." Rogue stated, waving off the question.

"Oh? And what of that rather, _eccentric _boy, Mr. Shirakumo? To my knowledge you seem to be spending a fair amount of time with him as of late." Darkhölme inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Rogue froze when those words left her mouth. "... How do you know about that?" She asked warily.

"Oh Rogue, my dear, when it comes to my students I make it my duty to know everything." She grinned. "You do remember that Xavier and his students attacked you, don't you?"

"Well yeah, but, lately that part's been… Fuzzy." The auburn haired girl said.

"Well just this morning, I overheard them talking about how in a simulation they had, with _you _as their target." Darkholme told her.

Rogue's eyes widened at that bit of info. She was a target in one of their simulations? Suddenly, she realized that the _type_ of simulation went unspoken. She decided to address that.

"And just _what_ _kind _of simulation was it?" The southern belle questioned with a raised eyebrow. If she caught Darkholme off guard, it wasn't shown.

"They didn't say. Though…" The woman said as she set a bag down. "Why not ask them yourself? I've arranged for you to go on that trip, so it should prove most enlightening. I think it's time you sorted out who your real friends are."

-_A few minutes later-_

Rogue ended up getting on the bus after Jean was replaced with her due to Darkholme deep-sixing her to make room for the other girl.

The bus then started its drive into the mountains as it started to snow rather hard, almost as if they had unwittingly drove themselves into a blizzard.

"Alright! Fresh powder!" A student cheered, which was echoed by the rest of the class.

"Don't get too excited, too much of the white stuff and we turn around! This isn't a snowmobile trip after all." Mr. Rodenski, their teacher, called back to the students.

This caused everyone to groan in dismay, the ride continued to go on for about half an hour before the bus made a turn when a sharp curve appeared, causing the bus's trailer attachment to swerve off the road and almost fell off the cliff, the vehicle then started to swerve uncomfortably until Scott opened a window and used his heat vision to cause a ditch to form, stopping the bus from moving and saving them, though no one was able to see this through the confusion.

After this, Rodenski was going to have everyone push, but Rogue had a Much more appealing idea. "Say, Mr. Rodenski, why don't we just take our snowmobiles to the cave and wait out the weather there?" She suggested, getting a round of approval from the others.

The man sighed as he had no choice but to just go with the idea, seeing no better option. Once everyone got a snowmobile, they all started heading in the direction of the cave that they were supposed to be going to. Scott was driving his while riding with one of his classmates, Paul. While Rogue was riding with another classmate.

That's when the southern girl decided to ride up next to him. "Hey! Wanna race, Summers?" She challenged him, getting an alarmed look from her passenger.

Scott smirked in response. "You're on!" He shot back. The two then sped up (much to their passengers' chagrin) and started to race. Scott started to pull ahead, but that was when Rogue came flying out of nowhere and landed right in front of them. As Scott attempted to close the gap, they came up to a ledge, and out of nowhere, Rogue started slamming into them, almost driving them off the cliff. This caused Scott to slow down and let her pull ahead as he tried to stabilize.

"Man, that girl is wiggy, she didn't care what happened to us." Paul noted in slight shock.

"Yeah… Where did that come from?" Scott wondered in utter confusion.

(Elsewhere)

-_Xavier mansion, the professor's room.-_

The telepath was in the middle of sifting through paperwork when he noticed that his window was open, as he rolled towards it in an attempt to close the entrance, he was suddenly stopped by a magnetic pulse that not only closed the windows, but also sent him rolling back and slamming into his dresser. As he tried to get the chair to work, he noticed that he couldn't get it to move.

"Magneto, what are you doing here?" The man asked sternly.

"I've come to pay you a compliment, Charles. Your young charges, they seem to be… Flourishing under your tutelage." Magneto stated in the same voice that had been talking to both Mystique and Pietro.

"Yes, they're doing quite well." Xavier agreed, struggling to get his chair to work.

"I am referring to the development of their _mutant _abilities. You seem to be doing well with that." Magneto corrected, rather judgmentally.

"Yes, I am very proud of how much they've grown." Xavier agreed, seemingly refusing to acknowledge the judgemental tone.

"Proud, but yet you do not trust them." Magneto judged rather harshly.

"I do, I trust them with my life." The man retorted.

The living magnet then growled as the magnetic pull got stronger. "But not with the _truth_!" He yelled before he pulled Xavier towards the closed window, causing the glass to shatter as he disappeared.

Minutes later, the professor then went to the main living room where he was discussing the incident with Logan as a fire roared in the fireplace.

"I dunno Chuck, maybe he's right. Why not tell them the truth?" The scraggly mutant asked, a toothpick that hung from his mouth moving around as he spoke.

"How am I to explain to them that their principal, whom they are to obey and respect, and their enemy, are one in the same?" Xavier questioned in worry as he put his hands on his temples.

Logan was about to answer when Jean and Ororo came in. "Trouble's brewing." The latter of the two said. "A blizzard is occurring just up in the mountains."

"Right where the geology club is." Jean added.

"Jean, I thought you were going with them?" Xavier questioned.

"I was, until Principal Darkholme deep-sixed me to make room for her little Rogue." Jean stated indignantly.

"Rogue… You're right, trouble is brewing." Xavier agreed.

Little did they know that Gavin was listening in on the whole conversation, and he Now was walking back to his room, hands in his pockets, and a murderous glare on his face as he thought of what Mystique might be doing with Rogue.

(Meanwhile)

-_Back in the mountains- _

Scott was currently looking for Rogue in the cave that the club had hunkered down in, when he came across an amazing waterfall. As he marveled at it, he almost stepped over a very steep cliff. As he managed to correct himself, he noticed Rogue was standing right behind him.

"Rogue, I was looking for you." The boy said to the southern girl.

"What is it you want from me, Scott?" She asked rather bluntly.

"Me? Well, nothing really. Except maybe your friendship." Scott explained rather plainly, not really getting the meaning of her question.

"Really? Well you know what Ah want? The truth! What was that simulation you and your friends had with me as your target about, huh?" She snapped. "What kind of simulation was it? Were you guys tryin' to learn how to fight me?"

Scott blinked. He was wondering how she even found out about that to begin with, but decided to leave that subject alone to focus on Rogue's question.

"Actually, it was a rescue simulation." He replied, causing her to blink in surprise.

"What?" She gasped, backing up slightly. She then decided to ask something else that had bothered her for a while too. "Then what about Gavin? He's been constantly coming around me, trying to help me with mah powers and has been even trying to help me get used to socializing in what he calls a 'No strings attached' relationship. Did your X-men put him up to that?" She asked, wanting answers.

"... Is that why he's been coming home so late?" Scott asked as he scratched his head.

"What?" Rogue gasped in even more shock before backing up. "Then… Why would he? Why would he be doing that if you didn't put him up to it?" The girl clutched her head as her thoughts raced. None of this made any sense!

Just then, Paul came walking up to them. "Hey, Rodenski is looking for you guys." He told them.

Rogue and Scott then looked at the boy and both noticed something was off about him, more specifically, that his attire was different. At first glance the differences seemed inconsequential, but at second glance it was hard to ignore.

"Wait, you're not Paul. Who are you?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, you're not the Paul we know." Rogue added.

That's when the boy gave an evil smirk before he then transformed into the principal, and then into that of Mystique. Scott's eyes widened as he saw this.

"Principal Darkholme? Y-you're Mystique?" Scott gasped.

"Yes, Scott. I see Charles neglected to tell you. Nice of him, wasn't it?" Mystique said as she forced the boy to back up to the edge of the cliff.

"What are you doing?" Rogue said in panic.

"I'm protecting you, dear." Mystique said simply. "The X-men only wish to use you. And I refuse to let that happen." She then turned to Scott. "Yes, you are all just puppets of Charles Xavier, and I'm going to cut your strings, just to watch you _fall_!" The woman snapped as she pushed him over the ledge and watched him fall down into the depths.

"Scott!" Rogue cried as she ran to the cliff. "Why did you do that?!" She demanded as she faced Mystique.

"I already told you, to protect you, so you wouldn't fall for his lies or the lies of that freak of nature that weasled you into his corner." Mystique snapped.

At the mention of who she assumed was Gavin that Mystique was referring to, Rogue became angry at her for insulting the very person who only wanted to _help_ her.

"No!" Rogue exclaimed while unlatching one of her gloves, the girl whipped around and grabbed onto Mystique's arm, draining her memories and seeing everything. Every lie, every deception, and saw that everything Scott had said was true.

As the blue skinned woman fell unconscious, Rogue ran over to the ledge and tried to look for Scott, hoping, _praying _that he was still alive.

When she peered over the edge, she was relieved when she saw Scott barely hanging on to a smaller cliff about halfway down.

"Oh Scott, I'm sorry. I'm coming!" She yelled down to him before leaping down to the same ledge. As she landed, Scott grabbed onto her arms as she tried to pull him up.

"Ya know, it's getting harder to tell the players around here without a scorecard." He chuckled as they tried to get up.

"Just hang on!" The girl said in concern right before a boulder, which was being pushed by Mystique, fell over the ledge as it crashed into where they were standing, causing it to crumble and them to fall.

They fell until they crashed into a ledge that gave way and then into the stream down below, causing them to be swept away by the current. Scott grabbed Rogue and managed to divert them until they floated right onto a small bank.

Both then slowly started to limp towards a large rock bridge, at least until Scott fell unconscious due to both the cold and a small head injury he sustained.

"Scott!" Rogue cried as she pulled his head into her lap. "We're gonna be okay, we're gonna be-" That's when she realized just how high up they were. "Oh man, we're gonna die!"

Mystique watched them from the clifftop before she transformed into a wolf and leapt down with the intent of finishing them off.

Rogue gasped in horror before she grabbed Scott and then started dragging him away from the wolf, but realized they were cornered.

"X-men… Are here… Can't find us." Scott groaned as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

Rogue looked around before she laid him down. "Then let's give them something to find." She said as she removed his shades. "Okay Scott, open your eyes."

The shade wearing teen managed to do so, resulting in his eye-beams shooting into the sky.

On the X-Jet, Logan and Charles were flying through the sky with Storm giving the aircraft a cone of clear air to fly in without turbulence. When Scott's eye-beams shot up, Logan spotted it.

"There they are!" The graggly mutant exclaimed. "Charles, take the controls." He ordered as he got out of his seat and sent to the door.

With the other two, Mystique was still walking up to them as a wolf. Seeing no other real option, Rouge touched Scott and gained his powers.

"Hey teach, didn't anyone ever tell you? Don't mess with the Rogue!" She yelled as she blasted the shapeshifter off the rock ledge, but this caused the bridge to start crumbling in the process. Mystique turned into a bird to avoid falling, but before she could attack, both the X-Jet and Wolverine appeared.

"Give up Mystique, or you'll be tangling with the Wolverine!" Logan growled as he deployed his claws, causing Mystique to screech and fly away.

Logan retracted his claws before he leapt onto the crumbling bridge to grab Scott and Rogue and back onto the X-Jet just in time for the naturally occurring bridge to completely fall apart.

As they flew back to the mansion, Logan walked back to the girl as she sat huddled up in a corner, shivering from the cold she was previously in.

"Alright Where's your allegiance kid, is it us or them? Time to make a choice." The man told her straight out.

Still shivering, Rogue looked at Logan. "I-if Ah don't say 'you,' am Ah g-going to get tossed off the j-jet?" She asked.

"Nope, not our style. We've either earned your trust or we haven't. It's your choice all the way." Wolverine stated while shaking his head.

The southern girl looked at Scott with Jean and the others, then she thought back to Gavin. After a few seconds she turned back to Logan. "Ah choose, you." She told him.

The man smirked as he went back to the jets controls, now they needed to go home.

-_Xavier Institute-_

"It's the same as lying to us." Jean snapped as Xavier finished explaining the situation with their principal and Mystique.

"Yeah, why didn't you tell us?" Kitty questioned.

"Yeah Professor. What'd you think we were going to do? Go after her?" Kurt added.

"Kurt's right, man. if she wants to pretend like nothing's going down, we can too." Evan nodded.

"What about you, Rogue?" Scott asked.

"It's not mah place to say." Rogue said.

"Sure it is, you're part of the family now." Kitty told her.

"Damn straight." Gavin piped up, who was sitting on the couch on his back, with his legs folded meditation style and hanging over him, his arms crossed and eyes closed, hair dangling from the couch due to his upside down position.

"Well, I think that sometimes adults hide things to help protect us, but I know, no I've learned that it's also important to be honest with those you care about." Rouge said firmly.

Xavier then looked at his currently upside down student. "Gavin, is there anything you'd like to say?"

"Other than I'm a little ticked off that you kept us in the dark this long? No, not really." He shrugged, eyes still closed.

The man nodded. "Then I will only say this: There are things you will learn that you are ready for and those you are not. Secrets, lessons, elements of surprise. But in the future, I will try better in knowing which is which."

Everyone nodded in agreement. It was good to know that they weren't the only ones who had things to learn.

(Elsewhere)

_-Chicago, Illinois, night time-_

In the woods just outside of the windy city, a large shadow hovered over a grove of trees as the shadow got closer to the ground. It revealed itself to be the same red dragon that had been spotted in the Rockies, but now this creature slowly started to shrink and change shape, it shifted until it became a human woman.

She looked to be in her late twenties with caramel blonde hair, fair skin, was around 5'7" and had a fairly curvy but decent hourglass figure, but her most striking feature was her emerald green eyes. She wore a pair of jeans (which were damaged) a tank top, a pair of black boots, and lastly a well worn black leather jacket.

The woman stepped into the city and sighed. "Just a few more states to go Chelsea, just a few more states to go." She sighed to herself before pulling out a rather worn business card of none other than the Xavier Institute for gifted youngsters from her jacket pocket. "I hope that place is as good as you said it's cracked up to be, Bast, wherever you are." Chelsea sighed to herself as she made her way to the nearest train station, her next destination? Bayville, New York State.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: A Spyke Eye View**

**-**_Bayville Water Tower- _

At the Bayville Water Tower, a very large man came walking up towards its fenced in entrance. 'Big as a house' didn't even begin to describe him. He was around either eight to nine feet tall with large muscles, long dirty blonde hair that seemed unbelievably grimy and looked like an unkempt wildman.

The man walked up to the gate and thrust his hand through the stay out sign and chain link fence as if it were cheap paper. Forcing it out of the way he started walking towards the tower and then started climbing up its ladder.

(Elsewhere)

-_Bayville High-_

Evan was in his History class, and was looking at the grade he got on his report on the Star Wars Program, which he apparently got a D on.

"Aw man! Professor Xavier's gonna ground me for the rest of my life!" He groaned.

"Mister Daniels, could we have a moment if you please?" His teacher asked while gesturing for him to come to his desk. "Admittedly I did say I wanted a report on the Star Wars Program, but I wasn't talking about the movie."

"There's gotta be something I can do to make this up. Anything?" Evan asked.

"Actually, there is something." The man said as he pulled out one of the drawers of his desk and he pulled out a digital camcorder.

"Whoa, a Digicam!" Evan said as he took it.

"Current events can mean anything mister Daniels, it doesn't necessarily have to be exciting, it just has to mean something." The man explained. "All you need to do is find something that means something to you. You'll have until the end of the week to turn in the project, alright?"

"Sweet! Thanks, teach!" Evan grinned as he ran out the room. As the boy looked through the camera's features he looked out the window through it and zoomed in through the eye lens until the Institute came into focus. "Whoa! I can even see the Institute in this thing!" He said as he then noticed Logan. "Hello, Logan." He chuckled.

"Evan!" A voice said below him, which caused the boy to almost stick all of his spikes into the person, but thankfully stopped once he realized that it was Kurt.

"Hey man, don't do that! I almost toothpicked ya!" Evan said as he retracted his spikes.

"Sorry. Image inducers on the fritz, I need to get back to the Institute before someone sees me." Kurt explained as his watch's projection kept glitching. "So I won't be able to get to our shop class."

"Hey don't sweat it, I'll get it on tape for ya!" Evan smiled while gesturing to the camera in his hand.

"Sweet! Thanks man, now I better get out of here." Kurt grinned as he telephoned away.

Evan then started to go to his next class, but stopped when he saw both Rogue and Kitty coming his direction, the Valley and Goth girl both arguing the whole time.

"Ah told you, Ah didn't steal your book!" Rogue snapped at the brunette.

"Oh, so I guess it just got up and walked off?" Kitty questioned. Evan meanwhile was hiding behind his locker as he zoomed in on their faces.

"You loaned it to Kurt and he loaned it to me, I was gonna give it back." The Southern girl snapped as she crossed her arms.

Kitty was going to retort but she was stopped when she bumped into someone, which was a boy from the drama club, Jason.

"Oh, sorry!" Kitty gasped as both of them dropped the things they were carrying. "Could I be any clutzier?"

"And enter: the love interest." Evan smirked as he zoomed in.

"No no, it's fine. I wasn't paying attention either." Jason assured her as he helped her get her things. "Here you dropped these."

"Wow. Like, thanks Jason." Kitty smiled while she gained a rather visible blush.

Rogue, meanwhile, just scoffed as she gave a look of disgust. "Thank you, Jason!" She mocked in a disdainful tone.

Kitty ignored her as she talked with Jason. "So, what are you doing?" She asked him.

"Oh, I'm hanging posters to try and get people to go to the tryouts for the school play tomorrow night. The play is next week." Jason said as he showed them a poster, which was of a rock musical of the Dracula story. "We're doing a Dracula musical."

Rogue then decided to chuckle. "Ah know for a fact that Gavin is gonna be trying out the moment he finds out about this." She said with an amused expression.

As if on cue, said pseudo Vampire came sliding in out of nowhere, headphones on, and his floppy brimmed fedora and round rimmed sunglasses on. To the keen of hearing, it could be clearly heard that he was listening to swing music, more specifically 'King of Swing' by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

"Whoa, those are some cool moves." Evan said as he followed the boy who spun around, his jacket flapping the whole time.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, he and I are trying out for the main male lead." Jason nodded, as they watched the boy dance right down the hall.

"You guys are gonna tryout for the role of Dracula?" Kitty asked.

"Yeah, why don't you guys tryout too? We need girls who can sing and dance." Jason asked them.

"Yeah! Sure, like, of course I'll try out." Kitty smiled as she blushed pretty heavily.

"Ugh, Ah am definitely going to be ill." Rogue scoffed. As Jason left, Rogue gave Kitty a snide look. "Just when Ah thought you couldn't get anymore pathetic." She said in a condescending tone.

"At least I have a chance of getting cast!" Kitty smirked.

"Please, this play was made for me." Rogue scoffed, whipping her hair to the side. That was when she noticed Evan filming them. "Hey! Whaddya think you're playin' at, Porcupine?" She snapped.

Evan got up as he raised his hands defensively. "Hey, It's cool, I'm just doing a film project for Vandivir's class."

"Well Ah better not see my face on that tape, or they're gonna be callin you Spyke-less." The southern belle hissed.

Evan nodded nervously as the two left before sighing in relief. "Gotta work on that." He whispered to himself.

After school Evan was skateboarding home while filming himself, when out of nowhere someone jumped on top of his shoulders and pushed him, grabbing his camera and making him fall in the process.

As soon as he was able to get up, he went looking for the device and found it laying under the steps of the street area where he was. After checking it, he was then caught off guard by the light post next to him stretching and a large blob of metal separated from it.

The blob then rose up and took a humanoid shape, revealing it was Devin, Gavin's brother. "Hey, what're you doing here, man?" Evan questioned.

"Shh!" The Japanese boy hissed before looking around. "I'm hiding from Toad. Ever since the Middleverse incident, Mystique's been having the insufferable slime ball keep an eye on me constantly in case I might defect like Rogue did." That was when the sound of hopping could be heard in the distance. "Here he comes. If he asks, I was never here." And with that, the boy turned into a puddle of metal and headed into a nearby storm drain.

'_Gavin is gonna want to hear about this.' _Evan thought as he skated away.

(The Next Day)

-_Xavier Institute-_

The next morning Evan woke up and stretched like he usually would. But this was interrupted when two spikes shot out of his hands and buried themselves in his dresser mirror and light respectively.

"Aw man, not again." He groaned, possibly hinting that this was a regular occurrence.

Right at that moment, Storm walked in. "Up and at 'em, little man. Breakfast in ten." She said before noticing the camera. "What's this?" She questioned, picking it up.

"It's part of a project I'm doing. It's life at the Institute, from the Evan Daniels perspective. Pretty cool don't ya think?" He asked as he got up and got dressed.

"Yes, but I don't think a Spyke eye view is a good idea." She commented while pulling out the spike from his lights to prove the point.

"Yeah, I see what you mean." The boy nodded as he left.

On his quest for footage for his project, he came across Jean who was trying to pick out some clothes. "Hmmm, maybe the red?" She said as she held up a shirt. "No, that won't work."

Evan continued to film until Jean noticed him and then telekinetically forced the door shut and sent him flying towards the adjacent wall.

"Touchie, wasn't that interesting anyway." He said as he left. The blonde's next stop was Gavin's room, and fortunately for him the pseudo vampire had yet to wake up, that being evident by the lid of the boy's coffin bed being closed. "And here we have the Xavier Mansion's resident Vampire in his natural habitat, about to wake up from his slumber."

Literally a second later, Gavin's alarm clock went off and played the theme of Dracula. After a moment, the coffin's lid was removed from it and revealed Gavin, who rose up from it like an actual vampire would. Then his pet bat immediately came flying towards him from its roost on the ceiling and landed on the boy's head while said pseudo Vampire cracked his knuckles and stretched. His mouth wide open in a cavernous Vampire fanged yawn. Now thoroughly freaked out, Evan bolted before Gavin could notice him.

The final stop Evan had in mind was the courtyard, where he saw both Wolverine and Cyclops doing a training run, which he decided to capture on his camera while he followed the action on his skateboard.

The run was pretty simple, and both mutants were going through it like it was nothing. But right then, a machine that shot circular saws shot three of them out in rapid succession, and Evan was completely unaware of this, at least until Wolverine made it known.

"Look out!" Logan yelled before he tackled Evan out of the way, which made the blades hit a wall, a side of the mansion and decapitate a garden statue all at the same time. As the Scraggly man hoisted the boy up, he snarled angrily at him for his stupidity. "Whaddya think yer doin' here, bub? Don't you realize that if ya made one wrong move that woulda taken yer empty head right off?" Logan nagged while knocking the kid on the noggin a few times.

"I was just-" Evan tried to explain before Logan took the camera and then pressed 'erase'. "Hey! What did you do that for?!" The boy whined.

"Let's just say you got on my bad side. Now what else do you have on here." Logan growled as he hit playback, which suddenly revealed the face of a man none of them recognized. He was twice as rough looking as Logan and looked twice as mean, with long fangs, cat-like eyes, and a 70's style long hairdo that looked really grungy.

"_Thanks for showing me where Logan is, kid. I owe ya one._" The man said before the film quit playing.

"Who's that?" Evan questioned.

"_Sabertooth_." Logan growled as he handed Evan back the camera.

"He's got an old grudge against Logan, and it looks like you just clued us into our location." Scott explained.

Just then, the proximity alert sounded, and at the front gate Sabertooth was there bending the front gate out of the way as if it were flimsy plastic. He kept stomping on towards where the others were as the defense systems kicked in. Lasers shot at him, but were soon destroyed.

"Pretty good Logan, but not good enough!" Sabertooth growled as he lept towards Wolverine, and was met by the shorter mutant.

The others there joined as Storm started to whip up a strong wind storm which blew Sabertooth back right into Gavin, who was standing there while pulling on his gloves.

"Hey there Sabertooth, I'm Vampyr." Gavin smirked as he pulled on his gloves. "Releasing control art restriction level 3, 2, and 1." He intoned before he started creating a dome of smoke around them.

Sabertooth looked around as he realized that it was pitch black in the dome, and his nose wasn't able to pick up the scent of the boy, since the smoke smelled like him.

"Get out here you brat and take your beating like a man!" The prehistoric themed mutant snarled as he looked around.

"Oh I'm sorry, is the smoke too much for you ya little blonde _bitch_?" Gavin asked as he appeared behind the man and gave him a good slash with his sword as he said 'bitch' and disappeared into the smoke again just as quickly.

"Gah! What the-?!" Sabertooth growled as he tried to recover from the hit.

"I was all ready to start watching my TV this morning and then you had to come in and fuck up all my plans!" The boy yelled as he unleashed another barrage of slashes, causing the wounds to spew blood because of how deep they were and then a second later, delivered a back handed fist to the side of the man's skull.

"Are-are you seriously picking a fight with me over a fucking TV?!" Sabertooth yelled in rage and disbelief before managing to land a solid blow to Gavin's face, making his jaw become knocked completely loose, only for the boy to put it back in place right in front of the blonde.

"So you got a healing factor too, huh kid? Well fuck me side-" He said before he was soundly cut off (literally) as his hamstrings, Achilles' tendons and back of legs were cut clean through, causing him to drop to the ground.

Gavin dissipated the smoke as he stood in front of his opponent, a murderously gleeful look in his eyes as he wiped the blood from his still healing jaw. "Ya know, they say not having your TV won't make you violent..." The boy growled as he hoisted Sabertooth up to his face. "BUT I'D SAY NOT HAVING MY TV IS MAKING ME PRETTY FUCKING VIOLENT!" He all but roared in Sabertooth's face before throwing him down while the man was still bleeding profusely.

"Wha-What is with this kid? What's in that sword? I can't heal!" Sabertooth growled as he tried to crawl away.

"Come on! You were talking all that good shit a second ago! You only stopped after I cut your fucking legs off!" Gavin growled as the man was slowly trying to get.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, kid?!" Sabertooth roared as he tried to stumble backwards to the woods.

"Come on ya kitty cat bitch! Just heal your legs already! Summon up your demons, _hit me_, FIGHT ME! Gimme a hug." The boy said while grinning maniacally as a smoke swirled around him and formed a long wispy cape behind him, as if it were a part of his body.

'_This kid is insane! I gotta get out of here or I'm dead!' _Sabertooth thought frantically as he struggled to get away from Gavin.

"Get back here!" Gavin yelled as he and Logan followed after the man.

Everyone was left there in shock. That... That was the Level 1 personality? Just how damaged was the boy's psyche to create such a depraved personality?

Later on, Gavin was of course berated for his behavior and was expected to not release his seals to level one unless it was absolutely necessary, which the boy was more than willing to accept.

Evan, meanwhile, wanted to set things right, so he devised a plan to stop Sabertooth. As such, he got Rogue, Kitty and Gavin and then had them travel out of the Mansion in a secluded area.

Sabertooth of course saw them, as predicted. "Four little piggies all alone, Logan you're making this too easy for me." The man chuckled darkly as he followed them.

Evan then had Kitty and Rogue start dancing while Gavin stood off to the side and watched. "Come on Rogue you gotta get with the program!" Evan told the girl.

"Hey, she has her way of dancing, Ah have mine." Rogue huffed.

"You gotta move a little more Rogue, you're like a walking zombie." Kitty told her as she started dancing.

"Hey I got it!" Evan chirped. "Rogue why don't you shed dem gloves and give K girl a tiny tap, that way you can rif her moves."

"Yeah, and I'll show you a couple." Gavin added.

"What? No way." Kitty said indignantly.

Rogue looked between the two before reluctantly removing one of her gloves. "Just concentrate on 'em." Rogue told her.

"Alright, but you better not, like, lay me out." The brunette stated, and with that, both girls connected their index fingers together. After three seconds, the two of them disconnected, which caused them to both shudder, Rogue's more defensive posture turning into that of the flirty valley girl.

"That was, like, pretty icksome." Rogue shuddered. "Urg, am Ah talkin like her?" She questioned.

Gavin couldn't help but stare, it may have been a subtle change in posture, but it seemed to stir something up in him. It honestly looked really cute to him for some reason.

As the music started up again, both girls started dancing again, and as the Pseudo Vampire watched his southern friend copy the movements of Kitty, he couldn't help but think that it was really hard not to stare. Which he honestly just kept doing, his jaw hanging open, which Evan then closed for him.

"You're staring man." Evan told him.

"Sorry." The boy apologized sheepishly.

Aaand that's when their session was interrupted by none other than Sabertooth, who came stomping in and swinging his clawed hands and the kids while destroying the boombox in the process.

The muscular mutant picked up Evan, but was promptly stuck by the boy's spikes. "Gotta be tough when yer messing with the Spyke man." Evan smirked before he was hurled away right into Rogue.

Sabertooth then turned his attention to Kitty, but was unable to pounce on her because of her intangibility. Then he was met by Gavin, who then pulled at his Day to Day fingerless seal gloves.

"Control art restriction release level 2." He said as he became his more dignified and condescending persona. In a quick flash of movement he disappeared and then reappeared next to Sabertooth and back handed him to the side.

The larger mutant then did something unexpected and then went under him, then delivered an uppercut slash to the boy, causing his white T-shirt to be ripped and blood to spew from the wound before it quickly started to heal.

The two then locked arms as they tried to push at each other and then, in a bid to catch the boy off guard again, Sabertooth then kneed Gavin in the groin rather hard, though if this bothered him, he didn't show it.

"... Please, this isn't a bar fight, have some class." Gavin said with a deadpan look. This smart remark was met by a headbutt by Sabertooth and then was followed up by Gavin suddenly reaching his hand out and a thin tendril of his smoke (barely visible and about the size of string of fishing line) wrapped around his swords handle and brought it to him as he gestured it to, as if he was using telekinesis. He then followed this up by a quick feint slash and then a solid sucker punch to Sabertooth's face, sending him up against a tree.

As the man sat there trying to recover, Gavin leaned down and looked at him face to face while showing his fangs and hissing. "Do you have a god to put a last prayer to, Sabertooth?" He hissed.

"Yeah, this one!" The man smirked before driving his claws into Gavin's stomach and sending him flying into a tree, bleeding and unconscious due to the hard impact.

Sabertooth started walking towards him, looking forward to a bit of revenge. Before he could even get close, he was interrupted by Wolverine charging in.

"Picking on kids, Creed? Big mistake." Logan growled.

"Oh yeah? Why?" Creed questioned.

"Because it really pisses me off!" The metal boned mutant growled once more before charging.

Sabertooth threw Logan over his shoulder by using his own move against him and was about to strike another blow, but was stopped when he felt a roaring pain in his back and felt his energy being drained before he fell unconscious.

This revealed that it was Rogue who did it, and due to her draining so much, she then started growing long fur, claws, fangs, and her hair was getting longer, not to mention her ears were pointy and her clothes ruined.

"Aw, and I just shaved my legs last night!" The girl whined.

Gavin, meanwhile, was being helped up by Kitty and Evan, and honestly, minus all the fur, Rogue actually did look good with long hair. "Wow...that long hair actually looks good on you, Rogue." He grinned before hissing in pain, his wound still not quite done healing.

The southern girl couldn't stop herself from blushing as she brushed her now longer white bangs from her face.

"A finishing touch. You planned this, didn't cha porcupine?" Logan asked Evan.

"... Yeah, I did." Evan admitted, feeling guilty about Gavin getting hurt like he did.

"Yeah well don't go doing it again, and don't gimme those puppy dog eyes half pint. Yer grounded, all of you!" The man snapped at them.

"For how long?" Gavin questioned, who was now able to move.

"... I dunno, at least 'till she-wolf there gets a haircut anyway." Logan shrugged while picking up Sabertooth.

"So what's gonna happen with you and Sabertooth? Word is you guys have been going at it for a long time." Evan stated.

"We got unfinished business, but now's not the time." Wolverine told them.

"So, now what's gonna happen to 'em?" Rogue asked.

"Oh he'll be having a little cooling off period." The man chuckled darkly. And so he did when the professor dropped him off in the frozen tundra of Canada.

(One week later)

_-Bayville High-_

Evan was in his class while they watched the video he made. "_Family, that's what I've decided to do my report on. This is Bayville, it's pretty laid back compared to New York where I'm from, but that's fine. And although they aren't my real family, the kids at the Institute are pretty cool._" Evan narrated as a clip of him skateboarding played. "_That's me, Evan Daniels, thrashing street skater."_

Next was a clip of Scott washing his car and Kurt spraying him with the hose. "_That's Scott, He's cool, but can be pretty strict, though Kurt usually takes care of that."_

Next was the clip he took of Gavin rising out of his coffin and Brownie landing on his head, which made half the female demographic of the class faint out of either fear or 'sexy vampire boy' swooning arousal, or just gush over how cute Brownie was. "_That's Gavin, our resident Vampire and Horror enthusiast in his natural habitat, you need advice about stuff like that? He's your guy. And that little bat on his head is Brownie. That little dude is a true blue bug killing machine!"_

After that was Jean and the Prof, who was letting Jean sculpt him. "_The Prof's like my new dad, and then there's Jean, that girl's got looks and talent."_ Then it changed to Storm playing the piano, Kitty,and Rogue dancing, and Gavin and Kurt who were dancing on a picnic table (Gavin doing some Swing dancing). "_That's Auntie Ororo, she's one seriously classy lady. And speaking of classy ladies, check out Rogue and Kitty! They got some moves! But so do Kurt and Gavin, those guys like to Par-ty."_

Finally it showed a montage of Jean shoving him out of her room, Kitty taking a picture of him while he was recording her, and then ended with everyone watching Kitty, Rogue and Gavin on stage with Jason as Dracula, and the Japanese boy playing the (added) role of Adrian Tepes aka Alucard, Son of Dracula. "_We may all fight sometimes, but I can always count on them to be there for me when I need them, because that's what makes us all family." _Evan's narration finished as 'The End' appeared.

(Elsewhere)

-_Philadelphia, PA-_

In the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chelsea finally got off the train she took from Chicago to there and was finally able to relax, her duffel bag sagging on her shoulder as she pulled out the business card of the Institute again, before flipping it over, reading the inscription written on the back which was written in Arabic and English. "Faith cures all doubt".

The blonde sighed as she put the card away. "Even if your parents were real A-holes, you still had faith in their religion huh? Eh, guess I can't judge. If keeping faith that this Institute place is really out there has gotten me this far, I guess there must be something to it." Chelsea shrugged as she made her way to an airport and got a ticket for a flight to New York. She then looked at a chapel that was just across the way. "Well, if you're really watching Mr. Almighty, keep it up, cuz I could really use the help." She said to herself before she disappeared into the crowd of people heading for the same destination.

Right behind her though, about thirty minutes later, the same people with the skulls on their uniforms came and started looking. "Anything?" One asked.

Another kept hitting some sort of tablet. "Damn it! The signal's lost again!" He cursed.

"How is she avoiding our trackers at such short notice?" The first one asked.

"She must have found out where the tracker was and tampered with it somehow." A third suggested.

The leader cursed under his breath in German before looking at the same chapel Chelsea saw. "Interrogate the locals, find out all they know. We must not lose her!" He ordered. "The force of many, cut off one head-"

"Two more shall take its place!" The other two continued.

"Hail HYDRA!" All three yelled as they saluted each other and went their separate ways.

Little did they know that just at that moment, the person they were looking for had already left on the plane northbound to her next location. '_Next stop, New York, final destination, Bayville._' The green eyed woman thought as she relaxed into her seat and then slowly drifted off to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Take a Walk on the Wild Side**

-_Stokes Maximum Security Prison-_

At the Stokes Maximum Security Prison, what looked like a routine check up with one of its top priority inmates was being done by one of the head guards. Unbeknownst to the security team of the prison, it was anything but.

Said guard walked into the cell and then made the its main hub, and then a large tank rose out from the center of the room and revealed that inside said tank was a huge man, even bigger than Sabertooth, who was chained to the floor and surrounded by a green liquid.

The guard then made the liquid slowly drain as he suddenly transformed into Mystique. As the man slowly started to wake from his stasis, the blue skinned woman smirked.

"Wake up, Kane. I think it's time for you to have a long overdue reunion with your brother, Charles Xavier." The woman said as the man glared at her.

(Elsewhere)

-_Ironback Survival Campgrounds-_

Meanwhile, the Xavier students and the Brotherhood were both at the Ironback Survival Camp, the former of which decided to come to the camp in place of the Institute's version with Wolverine, which was adamantly supported by Gavin, who honestly had been hounded by Logan quite a lot as of late because of the Sabertooth incident.

As everyone was standing and listening to the Sergeant who was the supervisor of the camp, Gavin was doing his best to ignore the man by turning the volume on his hearing aids (which he had to wear due to his enhanced hearing) all the way down.

"You will not be making wallets, neck tie holders, or paper weights. You will not be participating in potato sack races, water balloon tosses or pony rides." The man said as he walked back and forth between the line of students. The man was about as well built as Logan, with a well maintained grey hair dotted crude cut, a rather pronounced chin and was wearing a tank top and shorts, as well as a pair of shades. "You will be taking twenty mile hikes, propelling thirty foot cliffs and crossing treacherous waters with nothing but a rope and as much courage you can muster. Do you read me?!" He yelled.

"Yes Sgt. Hawk, Sir!" Everyone yelled, except the pseudo vampire, which Sergeant Hawk took notice of and decided to get in the boy's face.

"I said do I make myself clear?!" "He yelled in Gavin's face.

The boy simply leaned forward with his ear facing the man, cranking the volume of his hearing aids up a bit. "Sorry what was that? My hearing aid was off." He questioned.

"I said, do you read me?!" The man yelled into his ear, causing the boy to reel back and clutch his ears.

"Okay okay, ya don't have to yell." Gavin hissed as he got back in line, pushing his round rimmed shades up over his eyes.

Sgt. Hawk glared at the boy before he walked back towards Scott. "Now, here we have a man by the name of Scott Sumners." He stated as both shaded men looked at each other.

"Summers." Scott corrected.

"And his scholastic achievements at Bayville high have earned him the role of Team leader, so you will be following his league, you have twenty minutes to get your gear unpacked and meet at the training grounds, dismissed!" The man yelled louder than before, most likely to make Gavin hear him.

"Urg, I'm gonna be dead in, like, three days!" Kitty groaned as she sat down.

"Hey, what about me? I'm a city kid." Evan whined.

"Yeah, vhat did we do to deserve this?" Kurt questioned.

"Well I'm going AWOL, anyone know how to hotwire a bus?" Rogue asked.

"I do!" Gavin said as both headed towards the bus.

"Okay you two, calm down. It's not that bad." Jean said

"Yeah, settle down." Scott nodded, blocking them. "We don't want to wash out in front of the entire school do we? Besides, Professor Xavier endorses this place."

"Scott's right, I mean at least he gave us a choice, this place or with Wolverine." Jean added.

"Speak for yourself." Gavin hissed while adjusting his hearing aids.

"Ditto. It wasn't really a fair choice." Rogue nodded in agreement as they all grabbed their stuff.

_-Stoke's Maximum Security prison-_

Mystique was in the middle of helping the man she just set loose, Kane, get ready to move, namely helping him put on some sort of helmet.

"Paralysis bio fluid, the one thing that could stop the unstoppable." Mystique said in wonder. "Now, it'll take a moment for you to get full mobility again."

"Who are you?" Kane groaned as he slowly started to regain the feeling in his body. All the while Mystique was latching his helmet into place.

"A deal maker, I let you loose, and you bring me one thing in your brother's possession, his mutant detection system, Cerebro." Mystique told him.

"And Charles?" Kane questioned.

"I leave him in your capable hands, after all, you are the Unstoppable Juggernaut." Mystique grinned. "Now, I have a plane that will take you to-" The shapeshifter was interrupted by Juggernaut pushing her out of the way.

"No one, no one, takes the Juggernaut anywhere, and nothing gets in my way." He said as he punched a door out of the way.

"Charming." Mystique said dryly.

_-Ironback Survival Camp-_

The students meanwhile were currently trying to scale a rope climb/zipline race, Gavin having the least trouble due to his natural agility and using flexibility to swing himself up to the zipline instead of crawling, while his brother Devin just used his powers to coat his hands in metal to help him not burn his hands.

Both were suddenly halted, however, when Blob bent the rope climb and nearly broke it in the process.

"Man, I am literally not built for this." The fat mutant complained.

"No argument here, fatso!" Gavin laughed as he flipped up onto the zipline and swung down with Scott while Devin ran after Lance. As Gavin and Scott started to untie the rafts, Lance caused the ground to shake and sent the other three boys into the water.

"Lance, you bastard!" Devin yelped as he struggled to stay floating.

"Oh, that's it!" Gavin growled as he turned to smoke and climbed onto Lance's raft before he hurled the boy into the water and picked up both other guys. When Lance tried to get to the other raft, Devin shot a piece of his metal at it and popped it. Then they all crossed the finish line.

"Hey!" Blob yelled. "Those guys should've lost."

"Yeah, just because they slipped and took a swim they all went ballistic!" Pietro snapped.

"Slipped? More like avalanched!" Kurt snapped.

"Yeah you want that ribbon so bad, Ah'll pin it on your head!" Rogue growled as they all started arguing, Devin joining the side of the X-men in the argument because of what Lance did.

This drew the attention of Sgt. Hawk, who growled before blowing his whistle. Immediately after he made all of them do sixty pushups, which made everyone else become exhausted, except the twins, who instead took this as an opportunity to show off by doing one handed pushups.

Sgt. Hawk wasn't keen on this show of attitude, but decided to let it slide. "Here at Ironback, we know how to weed out the loudmouths from the tough guys." He stated.

"Aren't those the same thing?" Gavin questioned.

"Yeah." Devin nodded.

The sergeant tried his best not to start yelling and just continued. "You want to prove you're better, fine." He then pointed to a mountain. "If you can bring back a flag I placed on the top of mount humiliation, I will declare you the winner."

-_Xavier Institute-_

The telepathic professor of the institute was using Cerebro to scan the country for any new mutant signatures while also keeping an eye on his students.

"Seeing any new mutants?" Logan questioned.

"No, just keeping an eye on our students. They've been rather lively today." Xavier nodded to the man. "The Shirakumo brothers in particular are very active."

"Did you tell them not to use their powers?" Logan asked.

"I was hoping they'd make that decision themselves to be honest." The man shrugged.

"Well I still say you should've let me handle it." The scraggly mutant huffed.

"And I was, but they gave the argument that they'd have an easier time surviving the camp than with you." Xavier nodded. "Both Rogue and Gavin in particular saying that a week in the woods would be worse than a (and I quote) second degree sunburn and a wooden stake to the heart."

Logan huffed in annoyance. His training methods weren't that bad to him. "I say they're just overreacting." He huffed.

Right at that moment, Cerebro's mutant alert went off, with a signature that was designated as 'enhanced' and was in the archive files.

"Oh no…" Xavier gasped in horror.

"Charles, who is that?" The scraggly mutant asked warily.

"My half brother, but this doesn't make any sense. Who could've set him loose?" Xavier wondered.

"What's an enhanced mutant signature, anyway?" Logan questioned.

"It's a designation meant for mutants that had their powers strengthened by artificial means, like the twins for example, when I examined Gavin's mind and his Control Art Seals, I realized that at some point in his life, he and his brothers were involuntarily enhanced through some sort of procedure, increasing their powers greatly." Charles explained. "The same can be said about my brother. He had an X-gene, but it remained dormant most of his life, so he awakened it with mysticism."

"What kind of powers does he have?" Wolverine asked further.

"When he awoke his gene, he became unstoppable. Indestructible, even. He became a juggernaut." Charles explained.

As he said this, said Juggernaut was making his way to the mansion at a rather leisurely pace. And when he came face to face with a police roadblock, he just flipped the cars out of the way with little effort.

Storm, meanwhile, was in the process of spreading a thick layer of fog around the area where the Juggernaut was. And although it did little to slow the villain down, it did however stop the search for him. Kane simply just kept walking, and when he came to a railway that was in his way, instead of stopping, he just pushed the trains out of the way and caused them to fly all over the place.

With Xavier, he and Logan were going down to the danger room. "Do you have any way to stop him, Charles?" Logan questioned.

"Just one: My mind. With enough psychic blasts I can disable him. Unless he's wearing his helmet." The man nodded.

"Well, it'd be best for you to stay in the danger room." Logan stated, getting a nod from the professor.

-_Ironback Survival Camp _(_same time_)-

All the X-Men were going through the main trail while the Brotherhood were scaling the mountain itself. Well, all except the twins, who both decided to take the scenic route.

"So, why did you want me to come with you down this route?" Gavin asked.

"Because I have a few things that I need to discuss with you in private." Devin replied as the two of them kept walking.

"Like… What?" His brother questioned.

"The accident that killed our father. The one that mother was unjustly blamed for." Devin stated.

"Wait- You don't think mom caused the accident? I thought Grandma and Grandpa told you she did?" Gavin questioned.

"Of course I don't! I would never think that of her! Our mother loved father, we are the proof, aren't we? Why would she cause the accident that killed the love of her life?" Devin snapped.

Gavin recoiled in surprise at his brother's response. He wasn't expecting him to be so passionate. "Okay… Then who could've done it? From what mom told me, the accident was because of some drunk driver on a motorcycle."

"Well at first glance you'd think that, but after I started looking into it, things just didn't add up." Devin explained. "The way the crash looked, the data from the blood tests of the bike's driver, the witness reports. It all just didn't make sense."

"What did you learn, then?" Gavin asked as he narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses.

"Not much. Whoever wanted things ruled as a DUI accident gone terribly wrong, did an extremely good job at covering their tracks." The boy sighed as they then started hiking up the mountain.

"Well, that's a pain in the ass." Gavin groaned.

"Well I can promise you this: No matter what, I will find out what really killed our dad, and clear our mother of the guilt she's been feeling." Devin declared.

"What brought this on?" His brother asked.

"The Brotherhood has done nothing but slow me down, so I'm trying to find a way to become better by myself by finding who killed our father, and if I can square his death, that's even better." Devin explained as they kept scaling the mountain. "And because my thoughts have turned in that direction, Mystique has had the others keep a close eye on me."

"Then why not join us?" Gavin questioned, recalling Evan telling him that his brother was under surveillance shortly after the Sabertooth incident..

"I'm flattered you're willing to accept me, brother, I truly am. But I'm not really a team player, if I'm going to find the right path for myself, it has to be on my own." The metal user stated as they finally reached the low part of the top. He then helped his brother up as he smiled at him. "Besides, Magneto, the leader of the Brotherhood, has promised me a reward if I prove myself soon, so I'd like to see what he has to offer first before I do anything."

Gavin nodded in acceptance. "Alright, but if you find yourself in a pinch, don't be afraid to bring that problem to me." He said, wanting to be a good sibling.

Devin was about to answer when the X-Jet appeared above them. "Gavin, Devin, Professor Xavier and Mystique are in danger, you have to come with us, _now_!" Storm called them over the plane's speakers..

"Crap! Devin, let's move!" Gavin ordered.

"Right!" Devin replied.

The two of them immediately got on the X-Jet and they were off to the Institute. As they were flying, Gavin decided to ask what was going on.

"So, mind filling us in on what's happening?" The pseudo vampire asked.

"The Professor's half brother, the Juggernaut, is attacking the mansion, and he needs our help in order to take him down." Storm explained, getting surprised looks from the Shirakumo twins.

"I didn't know he even had a half-brother." Devin commented.

"Same." Gavin agreed.

-_Xavier mansion-_

Wolverine was in the process of fighting Juggernaut, but was being tossed around like the world's ugliest rag doll. And to make matters worse, a danger room run meant to make the Wolverine break a sweat, was barely even _scratching _the hulking mutant.

"Well, Charles? Aren't you going to welcome me home?" Kane asked his half-brother.

"Kane, this doesn't have to end badly. This house, it's about new beginnings. If you'd permit me, you _could _stay here, be a part of something bigger-" Xavier tried to say something.

"Oh I'll give you something bigger, a bigger _grave_." Juggernaut growled as he stomped towards both him and Mystique.

Meanwhile, Wolverine was about to get up, right when the others stormed in. "Take a break Wolverine, we'll handle this." Scott told the man.

Gavin then drew his sword and charged at Juggernaut and then started slashing at the mutant's body and then he stabbed him in the chest and used his sheer strength to force the man against the wall of the danger room.

"Release Control Art restrictions Level 3." He hissed as he pushed even harder against the man as he tried to push back. "None of us can back down from a fight, so why don't you stop holding back and fight for real, Judas Priest?!" The boy hissed as his feet dug into the metal floor crumpled underfoot as the Juggernaut kept pushing, and the boy's muscles tensed.

Once the giant was stalled, Blob came flying in and sent Kane into another wall, allowing Gavin not to be over exerted.

"Unstoppable, meet the unmovable." Blob smirked, getting a chuckle from Gavin.

"Physics anomaly incarnate." Devin stated as his left hand morphed into a morning star mace. "Yaaaaa!" He yelled as he struck the man in the side before morphing his other arm into a shield to block one of the other mutants punches.

"His helmet, take off his helmet!" Charles yelled out to them.

"On it!" Gavin nodded as he charged at Kane and jumped over his head and unlatched one of the shackles on the helmet but had to turn into smoke to avoid getting grabbed. Once he was away from the man, he concentrated on his sword and used his smoke slowly pick up the blade before he sent it to slash one of the clamps in half, and then called his sword back right at the exact moment when Kane threw a large piece of metal at him, which he was able to slice in half to avoid getting hit.

Then both Kurt and Pietro managed to get two more latches before both got slammed hard into the floor, Scott meanwhile shot a laser at him to distract him long enough to allow Gavin to release to Level 2 and send a strong kick into the Juggernaut's back and send him stumbling forward while standing in front of him, sword drawn and ready.

"No further." The boy stated coldly.

Kane just chuckled. "You think you can stop the Juggernaut? Don't make me laugh." He mocked.

"You've got nothing but insults, have you? A tired little-" But his insult tirade was interrupted by a large fist colliding with his face, causing his neck to snap and his head to spin completely around, only for the boy to snap it back into place and his body healing the injury within seconds.

Juggernaut growled as he charged at him, but was met by Gavin releasing to level one, and grabbing the man before using the mutant's own momentum against him and sent him over his shoulder and hurled him into the adjacent wall, allowing Kitty and Rogue to unlatch the final two clamps.

Toad, seeing an opportunity, leapt onto the wall above the Juggernaut and shot his tongue at the face hole and removed the helmet from his target's person.

Desperate not to be beaten Juggernaut charged again, but was tripped by Devin who used his liquid metal to turn his body into a long metal cord, causing the man to fall flat on his face, and gave Gavin the opportunity to pin him down by stabbing his sword through the man's midsection.

"Now, Professor!" Both boy's yelled. "Jinx, joke, you owe me a Coke!" They both added, pointing at each other.

Charles wisely decided to ignore their banter and focused on sending psychic blasts at his half-brother, who struggled to get loose before succumbing to unconsciousness. "It… Is done." The man sighed in exhaustion.

The others, meanwhile, were all celebrating their victory and the scene looked rather nice to both of the team's leaders. "We do work well together, wouldn't you agree, Raven?" Xavier asked Mystique.

"Yes, I must agree with you. Their united performance was quite a sight to behold." The blue skinned woman admitted. "But that changes nothing." She stated before walking towards the Brotherhood. "Come on boys, let's leave before you're invited to a sleepover."

All the Brotherhood members nodded as they left, but Gavin and Devin shared a friendly smile and nod as he turned to leave with the rest of them.

"What was that about?" Rogue asked the boy as she watched his brother leave.

"Eh, just a twin thing." Gavin shrugged.

(Elsewhere)

-_New York City-_

Chelsea stepped off the plane from Philadelphia and shouldered her duffel bag. As she continued to walk she scratched the space behind her left shoulder blade as she felt an itch in that spot, the skin under her tank top red and irritated but kept repairing, probably due to a healing factor.

"Gotta keep scratching, gotta make sure their signal is slow." She muttered as she made her way to the train station. As she arrived at the ticket booth, she slid some cash into the pay slot.

"Where to, Miss?" The ticket master asked in a thick New York accent.

"Bayville." She stated simply, still scratching her shoulder.

"That's pretty far, you sure? It's gonna cost cha." The man said.

The blonde grinned as she slid more cash to him. "Money is no object." She told him, her pupils turning narrow.

The man nodded and handed her a ticket, which she took as she started walking while she kept scratching her shoulder. As she walked she slowly disappeared into the crowd, before she couldn't be seen, not even in the slightest.

Next stop? Bayville, and the Xavier Institute for gifted youngsters, and Sanctuary.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Sins of the Mother**

_-Xavier Institute, 9:30pm at night-_

In the Institute on a Wednesday night, everyone was trying to get ready for bed, each of the students having finals the next morning. In Rogue and Kitty's room, the auburn haired Mississippi native was talking to one of her friends on the phone.

"Yea it was great, thanks for lending it to me." She said, looking at the book her friend leant to her. "Ah really liked the way it ended, when he turned into a werewolf and no one even knew it?"

Kitty, meanwhile, started crawling into bed as her roommate hung up her phone and set it and the book on her nightstand, before crawling into bed, both turning their lights out.

A few hours passed before Rogue started tossing and turning in her sleep, mumbling under her breath as disturbing images flashed through her head, the nightmare ending in the scene of a baby who was wrapped in a cloth was dropped into a raging river.

Rogue screamed as she jolted awake, a cold sweat covering her body as she breathed heavily, the images still fresh in her mind. Kitty, who was asleep, was startled awake the moment Rogue screamed. After she got over her shock, she went over to her roommate's side to calm her down.

Right at that moment, Gavin burst into the room, followed by Jean, Scott, Kurt and Evan. The pseudo vampire immediately ran over to his Southern comrade.

"Rogue, what's wrong, what happened?" He asked her with worry evident in his voice as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Ah, Ah don't know. Ah was dreaming, some, some kind of awful nightmare!" She cried as she tried to organize her thoughts.

"Yeah, her shrieking, like, really freaked me out. I almost fazed through the bed!" Kitty nodded.

"You're telling me. I could hear her from my room, and my coffin is _soundproof_!" Gavin added, letting go of Rogue.

"Are the finals really getting to you that badly?" Scott questioned.

"No, Ah've had this dream before. When I came to the Institute. There was a woman I think, castle, and wolves, oh that poor baby!" She cried as she tried her best to explain the dream.

"Wait, a baby? What did they look like?" Gavin questioned, perking up at the mention of a baby. The boy had always had a soft spot for infants.

"Ah'm not sure, Ah didn't see his face… But Ah had a feeling like, like Ah knew him somehow." The girl said before she turned her gaze to Kurt.

"Huh? How do you even know it was me?" The blue elf asked.

"The baby, it had your blue fur, and the same hands as you! The woman who was running with him, she was being chased by a man who was floating, and then the man made a pack of wolves attack her and she dropped him into a river, the poor little thing didn't know what was going on, he just kept crying." Rouge stated.

Gavin, meanwhile, couldn't stop himself from clenching his fists. '_Who would do that to a woman and her child? What kind of monster would try and break up a family that horribly?!' _He thought angrily as he grit his fangs in anger.

"Well how about we all just get some sleep? We can figure this all out tomorrow morning." Jean suggested.

"_That won't be necessary, Jean."_ The telepathic voices of the Professor suddenly said in their minds. "_This is an important matter. Rogue, Kurt, come to my office. The rest of you get some rest, as I recall, you do have finals in the morning."_

"Man there's just no keeping anything from him, is there?" Evan groaned as they all left.

Gavin shuddered. "Yeah, it's so creepy…" he said under his breath as he went back to his room. Sighing, the boy took out his hearing aids and opened the lid to his coffin. Like all coffin's it was lined with cushioning, but this was custom made of the very same used for mattress toppers for people with back problems. It was also velvet red and had an extra layer for soundproofing. Lastly, he had a black blanket inside and a black pillow that was perfectly suited for maximum comfort, this was his perfect bed.

As the boy crawled into the box, he got under his blanket and grabbed the stuffed bat he always slept with ever since he was little. After this he slowly closed the lid, the air circulation features that were built in allowing him to breath without problem. With all this done, the boy went back to sleep.

(The next day)

_-Principal Darkhölme's office-_

Xavier was now in the office of Principal Darkhölme, and currently, he was trying to get information on what she knew about the dream Rogue had, since it was her that was in it. Or rather, Mystique.

"Why are you here, Xavier?" The woman asked irritably.

"There are a few things I need to know." The man replied. "Namely regarding an incident you had regarding an infant, and that involved Magneto."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The woman snapped as she walked over to the book shelf across the room.

"Rogue absorbed your memories, so I know what happened. But I have to wonder, what were you doing in that dreary castle? Was it really worth the loss of your son?" The man questioned.

Mystique froze as she was grabbing a book. Charles took the opportunity to look through the shapeshifter's mind and find what he's looking for.

Though as soon as he finished, Mystique noticed and turned around, an infuriated look plastered on her face. "Get out! Get out now!" She yelled at him while pointing at the door.

Charles calmly turned his chair around and began moving toward the door, though he decided to leave some parting words. "If it's any consolation, your son turned into a very fine young lad." He stated before leaving.

As soon as he left, another person entered right behind him, it was Devin. "Miss Darkhölme, you asked for me?" He asked as he closed the door.

"Yes, Full Metal, come in." She said as he stepped inside and took a seat. "Now, I called you in here for this: I have a task I'd like you to complete for me."

The boy's skin rippled as his clothes morphed into a black body suit similar to Scott's with silver going down the sides and his shoes became boots much like those of Wolverine's, and he had shoulder and silver chest plating like Quicksilver, gauntlets like Lance, and lastly a silver vest similar to Blob's.

"Alright. What do you need?" He asked with a raised eyebrow while folding his arms and crossing his legs.

(Later)

-_Xavier Institute-_

Devin was now outside the gates of the Institute and was carrying a yellow envelope, as he slipped the folder into the inside pocket of his jacket he became liquid metal and slowly inched under the gate and into one of its air vents and entered the mansion through them and then dropped in front of Kurt's room, then slipped the folder under the door before disappearing into the vents again.

This action did not go unnoticed by the Professor, who had sensed the boy's presence the second he entered the building.

"Is that Devin?" Xavier wondered as he turned in his chair. But before he could do anything, the boy's presence disappeared. Which made Xavier then turn back to the screen in front of him. "Wolverine, report."

"**Well, from the looks of things Charles, it seems to be some sort of… DNA lab."** Logan said over his communicator. "**And whoever was in here just pulled out recently, real recently.**"

Logan then took notice of a bomb that was present. "**I'll call you back, Charles. I gotta run!"** He exclaimed before leaping out a window right as the lab exploded.

(Elsewhere)

"I'm telling ya, from what I was able to hear from that Shirakumo guy while he was in her office, she's gonna meet with the blue freak at sundown." Pietro said to someone on the phone.

"_Did you catch where they'll be?"_ The voice on the other end asked.

"No, I didn't, but I think I can-" Pietro was saying before a thin metal spike stuck itself into the phone and destroyed it, cutting the call short. Dropping the phone, the silver speedster looked to see Devin standing there, the spike shrinking back and turning back into his finger.

"_You _won't be doing anything, Pietro." The boy stated coldly.

"Why are you even doing this? We're on the same team, remember?" The silver themed kid asked.

Devin scoffed at his words. "Please. All this group has done is slow me down." He snapped, he then looked into the distance at the construction site where Mystique currently was. "Besides, I still have to repay my debt to that little blue fuzz ball. This is just one way I plan to do it. I mean, why should the son have to pay for the sins of the mother?"

"Are you serious?!" Pietro asked angrily.

Devin simply transformed his left arm into a hammer and his right into a scythe before facing the other boy. "_Dead_ serious." He said before he lept into the air and brought his hammer arm down on top of him.

(Meanwhile)

-_Xavier Institute-_

Kurt was hanging from the chandelier in his room as he looked at a photo of him and his adopted parents with a solemn expression.

That's when he noticed that there was a yellow folder on the floor in front of his door that wasn't there before, dropping down to the floor, he walked over and picked it up, opening it and pulling out a note that was inside.

"If you vant to know va truth, come to va new construction site across town at sundown, come alone." He read aloud.

The blue teleporter looked at the sun, which was already setting. He looked down in thought for a few moments before deciding to go. He wanted answers and he refused to pass up this chance.

"Vhy not?" He asked himself as he jumped in the air and teleported away.

Outside in the hallway, Jean was walking down the hall when she was met by Scott. "Hey Jean, have you seen Kurt? the Professor's looking for him." The young man asked the redhead.

"No, actually I was just about to ask Gavin something before I checked Kurt's room." Jean told him.

"Why?" Scott questioned as they went to Gavin's room.

"The professor said something about Kurt getting a visit from Full Metal earlier." Jean explained as they entered the pseudo vampire's room, noting the faint sound of snoring coming from the boy's coffin.

"Full Metal? You mean Devin, Gavin's brother?" Scott asked.

"The very same." The red haired telepath replied. She then started lightly knocking on the lid of Gavin's coffin, and noted that it had an odd inscription on its lid under the silver cross. It read 'The bird of Hermès is my name, eating my own wings to keep me tame.' And above the cross read 'When hope is gone, undo this lock, and send me forth, on a moonlit walk.'

"... He's watched _way_ too much Hellsing." Jean deadpanned, recalling some of the more famous quotes from it. As she stopped knocking, the sound of shuffling was heard from inside, making them both back up.

Then the lid of the coffin opened as Gavin sat up and yawned, a brown bat shaped night mask over his eyes. "Who's there?" He asked groggily, his hair a disheveled mess, and his attire being a set of black satin PJs with red trims.

"It's us Gavin, we need to ask you something." Jean said in a normal inside tone, causing the boy to wince in pain due to his enhanced hearing.

"Okay okay, you don't have to yell." He told her as he took off the night mask.

Jean and Scott were about to ask what he meant when they remembered how sensitive his hearing was, which made the two decide to lower their voices.

"Did you know about your brother visiting the Institute?" She whispered to avoid hurting his ears.

"No… What was he here for?" The boy asked.

"He went to Kurt's room, you didn't see him?" Scott asked, keeping his voice low enough to not hurt Gavin's ears.

"When did he get here?" The sleepy pseudo vampire asked.

"Just after school ended." Jean told him.

Gavin shook his head. "No, I was getting ready to take my nap and feeding Brownie at the time. Speaking of…" The boy then grabbed both his night mask and his stuffed bat. "If that's all I'm gonna go ahead and get back to my nap now. G'night." He said as he pulled the mask on and then closed the lid of his coffin.

"Remind me again why we even bothered asking him?" Scott questioned in an annoyed tone.

"Because it was worth a shot." Jean replied with a sigh.

Next was Kurt's room, and as they searched around, Jean found the folder that Devin had delivered on Kurt's desk and the note crumpled up in the trash.

"Oh no…" Jean gasped as Scott read the note while looking over her shoulder.

"Come on, let's get the others." Scott told her.

(Meanwhile)

-_Across Town, construction site_-

Kurt had just arrived at the construction site as instructed by the letter.

"Alright, I know you're here somevhere. Come on out." The truth seeking boy called out.

That's when a figure in brown robes came stepping out of the shadows. "Hello, Kurt." The figure said in a female voice.

"Who are you?" He questioned further, only to gasp when the hooded woman revealed her face.

"I think you already know, my son." Mystique said in a solemn tone..

"No… No, this can't be right!" The blue skinned boy exclaimed as he backed up slightly before he paused. "Vait, if you're my mother, then, what happened to me? Vhy did you leave me?"

It was at that moment that Devin appeared. "Hate to spoil the reunion Mystique, but the rest of the Brotherhood are headed this way. If you want to continue talking, then I suggest you move to another location, _now_."

Kurt was surprised by Devin's appearance, and when he said that the rest of the Brotherhood was heading in their direction, an idea came to his mind. When it did, he grabbed Mystique's shoulder, much to her surprise.

"Hang on!" He told her before he teleported them elsewhere.

At that moment, both the Brotherhood and the X-men arrived on the scene. Devin looked over his shoulder and sneered at the four other mutant boys. "Too little, too late imbeciles. They're long gone now." He jabbed at them pointedly with a smirk.

"Oh yeah? Where'd they go, then?" Toad demanded.

"Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you." Devin retorted. He then looked back at the X-men. "And tell Kurt that after this is over, he can consider us even." He told Scott.

"Grrr! Ya do realize that Magneto's gonna have your head for this, right?" Pietro snarled as he clenched his fists.

"I'm not scared of him." Devin shot back cooly.

"Get him!" Toad yelled as all four of the boys lunged at the walking T-1000 reference.

Devin turned his right hand into a sword and his left hand into a scythe as the X-Men prepared to assist him against the Brotherhood.

_-Elsewhere, Bayville High, Principal's office-_

Kurt and Mystique appeared in the Principal's office of Bayville High after escaping the Brotherhood.

"Ve should be undisturbed here. Now, vhy did you leave me?" Kurt asked after the two got settled in.

"It wasn't entirely my decision, Kurt. Magneto, the leader of Brotherhood, forbade me from going anywhere near you, and if I even so much as tried, he would've killed you." Mystique told him, changing her appearance and clothing to her usual outfit.

"Vhat about vhat happened in the castle? Vhat did this Magneto do to me?" He questioned further.

"Genetic enhancements, your father, Azazel was a mutant whose powers were the ability to teleport, he was also of a sub group of mutants that looked, well…" She gestured to the boy's appearance. "Like Devils."

"Vell, that certainly explains my appearance." Kurt mused to himself before turning his attention back to Mystique. "Anything else I should be made aware of?" He asked.

"Only this: Your original appearance was supposed to be more like mine, with your only trait from your father being your ears and tail. But due to Magneto's meddling he not only changed your appearance, but also caused your X gene to cause your teleportation ability to appear early." Mystique explained.

Kurt nodded, he recalled when he first teleported when he was five. It certainly made sense now. "Vell, I'm at least glad that ve've met." The boy said as he turned to leave. "Thank you for telling me the truth… Mother." He said with a smile.

Mystique gave him a motherly smile that she never got to use before. "It's been a pleasure… Son." She replied, her smile never wavering. They maintained eye contact for a moment before Kurt teleported back to the construction site.

Mystique then proceeded to make her way home, feeling like she just rid herself of a massive load of stress.

(Elsewhere)

With the X-men, Devin now had Pietro pinned to the ground in a choke hold and his right arm (which was now a drill) dangling right in front of his face.

"Do you yield, Quicksilver? Or am I going to have to give you the world's most _painful _root canal?" The Japanese boy questioned as he proceeded to make his drill hand spin and inch closer to Pietro's face.

"Okay, okay! You win, just keep that thing away from me!" The silver themed lad screamed in fear.

"Wise decision." The metal user said as he got up, allowing Pietro and the rest of the Brotherhood to hightail it out of there.

As soon as they left, Kurt reappeared, though Mystique was nowhere to be seen.

"Kurt…?" Rouge asked in concern as she walked up to the boy.

"Don't vorry, nothing bad happened. Ve just talked." The blue boy replied.

"Then where's Mystique?"Jean asked.

"She's… Around, I think." The boy shrugged vaguely.

Everyone wasn't sure what he meant, but just decided to drop it, content with just having their furry friend back.

"Oi, Wagner!" Devin called to him.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Consider us even." The metal mutant told him, causing the blue teleporter to blink before nodding.

"Right. Thanks for making this possible." He said with a grateful smile, getting a nod in return.

The two parties then went their separate ways.

(Elsewhere)

-_Train Station, just outside of Bayville-_

Chelsea was now getting off the last stop on her journey to her destination. As she looked around she saw a sign that said: 'Bayville: 5 mil N'. This caused her to smile, which was something she hadn't done in a long time.

"I can't believe it, I can't fucking believe it, I'm just a hop, skip, and a jump away from kissing the tentacles of those bastards at you-know-where and finally finding a place to call home!" The woman said to herself while grinning ear to ear. "Look out Xavier Institute, cuz you got a new mutant coming to town, and her name…" She then turned the corner and sprouted red wings as soon as she was out of sight of onlookers. "Is Chelsea Marks!" The blonde grinned as she went full dragon and flew off into the distance, her final destination just within arm's reach.

Or in her case, claw's reach.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Memories are a tricky business**

A couple weeks had passed since the Juggernaut attack and everyone was really starting to get into a rhythm. Well, most of them.

One such person was Kitty, who was currently writing an email to her parents about the Institute so far. Right now, she was writing the parts about Rogue and Gavin.

"_First there's my roommate Rogue, and she's not exactly the most friendly in the Institute. Which makes it hard to get close to her, though if we're being honest that's probably more healthy." _The valley girl typed as her roommate combed her hair, which was starting to get longer as of late ever since the Sabertooth incident.

"_Then there's Gavin, that guy's a __**total **__vampire fanatic, and really into horror stuff. Not to mention he's a car junkie, he's always asking Scott or the Professor to let him do work on their cars, and usually when he does it usually either goes horribly wrong or works a little __**too **__well."_ Kitty continued to type as she walked by Gavin's room and saw the pseudo vampire feeding Brownie from the palm of his hand. The sight caused her to smile a bit.

"_I won't lie, though. He does know how to look after his pet bat, Brownie. It took a bit to get used to in regards to having that little guy around, but I like seeing him hanging about the place now. It's actually hard to be scared of something so small and cute." _She typed as she went on her way.

She kept trying to find a place to find some privacy, but always kept running into the others everywhere she went. This was temporarily remedied when she went into the kitchen where Wolverine was.

"_Then there's mister Logan, he's cool and all but, he isn't exactly the most talkative of the teachers. He's really leaning into the whole 'lone wolf' vibe he gives off all the time." _She wrote as she looked at the man as he read the newspaper, causing him to look back at her.

"What's the matter half pint, am I readin' too loud for ya?" He asked her while drinking from his mug of black coffee..

Kitty immediately turned her attention back to her laptop. Sadly, it was at this moment that everyone else came into the kitchen for breakfast. It got slightly worse when Logan decided to turn on the TV.

As the story played on the TV, Logan turned up the volume and then suddenly started clutching his head, as if he was being struck by some sort of sudden unseen migraine..

As he clutched his head, he started stumbling his way out of the kitchen. Everyone else looked on with faces of concern, not knowing what was going on.

"Logan, is something wrong?" Scott asked, but got no answer as the scraggly man left.

Gavin watched the man leave and looked at Kitty who was also rather confused. "What's up with him?" The boy asked.

The girl shrugged as she left the room. After breakfast, everyone was getting ready for school, so Kurt went to go get Kitty so she wouldn't be late.

(Later…)

Though he never did come back, and neither did the intangible girl, which kinda worried the rest of the others.

"Okay, something's happened." Gavin declared, having not seen a single hair of Kurt nir Kitty all day.

"Why are you so worried? They could've just gotten lost or something." Rogue shrugged.

"I'd always worry if any of my friends went missing, I mean who knows what could happen to them." The boy told her. "I mean, I lost track of you for one minute and the next thing I know you're in the Brotherhood." He added ruefully.

Rogue sighed as she looked at Gavin. "That wasn't your fault and you know it." She stated.

"I know, but I can't stop myself from worrying." The horror fan replied. The two then went to their lockers and grabbed their things for their next class.

(Elsewhere)

-_Airspace halfway between Bayville and Mt. McKenna-_

Chelsea was flying in the direction of where she assumed was Bayville, however she wasn't entirely sure because she didn't exactly have the best sense of direction, and the directions she got from people along the way weren't exactly what you'd call 'helpful'.

As she flew in her dragon form, she then suddenly had to barrel roll out of the way as a huge black jet blasted past her, the dragoness just barely managing to avoid a full on collision.

She growled at the audacity of the pilot and chased after the aircraft, intent on giving them a piece of her mind.

(Meanwhile)

-_Bayville High-_

"Wait, so they've seen a _what _in the Rockies?" Rouge asked Gavin as everyone was eating lunch together, and oddly enough, Devin decided to join them.

"Yeah, I don't really believe the claims myself, either." Gavin replied as he ate his lunch. "I mean an actual medieval dragon, straight out of Arthurian legend in the Rockies? Yeah right." He laughed.

"I don't know, word is it's already claimed the lives of eight people already." Devin noted, recalling seeing a story about it on Fox News the previous week.

"At least there's evidence of its existence. What are they gonna do about the dragon, though?" Evan asked.

"Honestly? I don't know, I just hope they don't kill it. I mean, for all we know it could be the last of its kind." Gavin shrugged.

"Ah second that." Rogue nodded.

"You guys do realize that there's a possibility of this dragon being some kind of experiment, right?" Scott asked.

"How do you figure, Summers?" Devin inquired.

"Recognize this symbol?" Scott asked as he showed everyone a picture he had gotten from the same article about the Dragon, it was of a badly melted metal chest plate sitting in what looked like a giant reptilian footprint. The chest plate having the image of a green skull with tentacles.

"No… Can't say I have." Gavin said, shaking his head.

"Me neither." Added Rogue.

"I have." Devin nodded grimly, causing everyone to focus their attention on him.

"Really? What's the group using this symbol called?" Scott asked curiously.

"HYDRA. The Yakuza sect my grandparents are a part of have had run-ins with them from time to time." The boy explained. "They're an old Remnant of the Nazi regime that's hell bent on world domination. And recently, they've shown interest in mutants, more specifically for experimentation and breeding in order to create the perfect weapon or soldier. They abduct mutant kids and keep them in labs as personal guinea pigs." He finished.

"Tch. Even in death, Hitler somehow finds ways to screw with the world." Gavin muttered bitterly with a scowl.

"Well if this dragon really is a mutant who's being hunted by these HYDRA goons, then I think it's in our best interest to lend a helping hand, right guys?" Jean asked the group.

"Right." The rest nodded in agreement.

(Elsewhere)

-_Mt. McKenna-_

Chelsea landed just a couple yards from where the jet that almost blew her out of the sky had landed, and after inspecting it, she concluded that whoever was in there, wasn't anymore. Sniffing around, she noted that three people were in previously in it, one that smelled of girly perfume, one that had a furry musk to it, and the third was a rugged, manly smell that had clear tones of alcohol and cigar smoke in it.

These, though, were all things Chelsea liked for a guy to smell like. Licking her lips and now elongated teeth, she then started to follow the three new scents to their sources.

"Whoever these people are, something tells me one of them is probably gonna be the real studdly type." The woman said to herself as she trudged through the snow.

_-With Kurt and Kitty-_

Things were not going well for the two. They had unwittingly stowed away on the X-Jet with Logan, who was going through some mental problems apparently, and now whatever was going on had caused him to join up with Sabertooth. Currently, they were on the run from the two animal themed mutants who were determined to rip them apart.

Both ended up having to split up to avoid getting caught, Kurt easily evading the larger mutant with relative ease by teleporting to the tops of trees, only for said larger mutant to start climbing up after him.

"Oh great, I forgot vat cats could climb!" The blue mutant yelped as he teleported again to a lower branch, but was then lunged at by Sabertooth from above.

Kurt braced himself to teleport again, but found that he didn't have to when Sabertooth was swatted out of the air like a fly and slammed into a tree. He then teleported to the ground to see what caused his pursuer to go flying.

The thing that caused this chain of events to occur was soon revealed to be a massive red Arthurian Dragon, straight out of a D&D monster manual. It looked down at both the boy and his attacker, and snarled at the latter, it's pearly white teeth gleaming in the daylight.

Kurt looked at the dragon with wide eyes full of fear, which was justified given it was obviously angry. Granted, the anger wasn't being directed at him, but his self preservation instinct made him fearful of the giant creature in front of him, regardless.

Sabertooth recovered and, upon seeing the angry dragon glaring missiles at him, froze. He looked at the massive beast with a fearful look of his own, not expecting something like _this _to happen today. Then again, no one expects to see a dragon in real life at any given time. Therefore, he did the one thing any sane person would do.

"Forget this, I'm outta here!" The blonde man exclaimed before running off. "No kid is worth getting my ass eaten over!"

Kurt looked up at the dragon and smiled nervously. "Guten Tag, my name is Kurt Vagner, vhat's yours?" He asked the giant fire breathing lizard.

The dragon looked down at him before it slowly started to change size and shape and become none other than Chelsea. Kurt looked at the dragon turned human with an understandably surprised look on his face.

"Hi, name's Chelsea Marks. You look like you could use a hand with something big." She introduced and observed with the blue skinned boy in front of her nodding dumbly.

(Elsewhere)

Elsewhere with Kitty, she was currently being chased by Wolverine and was nearing a _very _steep cliff. Her desire to both not die and not harm her mentor kicking in, she turned to face the man as he backed her up to the very edge of the cliff, claws deployed.

"Mister Logan, wait!" She yelled, causing the man to stop right in front of her, his clawed hands at either side of her head, and shaking rather frequently.

This moment of hesitation allowed the girl to slowly start to remove his mask, making him look at her in the eyes so she could try and talk him down.

"Look at me, mister Logan. It's me, Kitty. Half-pint, remember?" She asked, hoping to get through to him. "This isn't you, whatever happened, you're fighting it right? Come on, would you really wanna hurt me?"

The man, who was trying _very _hard not to give the girl a lobotomy, struggled to slowly retract his claws as he fell to his knees in what appeared to be mental exhaustion. Kurt chose this moment to appear along with Chelsea.

"Kitty, are you alright?" He asked, checking his friend over for injuries.

"Relax, I'm alright." She assured him before noticing Chelsea. "Like, who's that, Kurt?" Kitty asked as she gestured to the new arrival, not knowing that she had saved Kurt from Sabretooth.

"Oh, this is Chelsea, she saved me from Sabertooth, and get this, she's a mutant too!" The boy told her, pointing at the Draconic shapeshifter.

Kitty looked at Chelsea with a quizzical expression. "Are you really a mutant?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Chelsea smirked before taking a few steps back and turning into her dragon form. She then looked down at Kitty, who looked up at her with her mouth agape. Logan, despite his mental exhaustion, managed to look up at Chelsea with a shocked expression of his own.

"... Okay, I, like, have one question right now, and that is: ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!" Kitty started before shouting her question.

Chelsea turned back to her normal form while smirking. "Oh this is real kiddo, you can be sure of that." She then turned her attention to Logan before licking her lips. "Say blue, who's tall, dark and handsome over there?" She questioned, pointing at the feral mutant.

Kurt blinked at what the she-dragon asked before shrugging it off. "Oh, vat's Logan. He's the main reason we're out here." He introduced the scraggly man.

"Ya know I kin hear ya, right elf?" Logan growled as he got up. "Anyway, come on, there's one more thing we need to do." He told them as he looked at the lab in the distance.

(Elsewhere)

_-Xavier Institute-_

"... And that's basically the gist of our theory, Professor." Scott said as he just finished explaining what he and the others had discussed at school that day.

"Hm… Yes, I can see why you think this is a possibility. If this dragon is a mutant, we must extend our hand to him, or her." Charles declared after thinking it over.

"Most eye witness reports say it looked female, so I'd say we're dealing with a girl." Jean noted.

"Great, just what this place needs, more estrogen." Gavin groaned as he sat in his usual upside down position, arms crossed.

"Regardless, if this woman was subjected to the kinds of horrors that HYDRA is capable of, we are to be her sanctuary." The bald telepath said with his fingers intertwined.

"No arguments here." The pseudo vampire shrugged as everyone nodded in agreement.

(Meanwhile)

-_Mt. McKenna-_

The group of four had just made it to the Weapon X lab with Logan using his claws to open the door. After that, they walked right in and were greeted by Sabertooth and an old scientist in a black coat.

"You!" Wolverine growled as he deployed his adamantium claws.

Chelsea meanwhile turned her own arms into claws and scales covered her face as her eyes narrowed. "So, you were a lab experiment too, huh? I thought there was a reason I liked you." She said while hissing at the dark cloaked man, fire puffing out of her mouth as she spoke.

Logan decided to ignore Chelswa's flirting for the moment. "I have a question for you, and that is: Who ordered it?!" He asked, referring to the experiments he was subjected to.

"That's not my area to say, but I will say this. Don't do this Logan, you're too valuable." The man told him, which made Chelsea roll her eyes in annoyance.

"If I had a buck for every time I heard that..." She said before breathing fire at Sabertooth, who had at that moment decided to lunge at her. "Why don't you just shut the fuck up already? No one cares."

"Why you…!" The blond man growled before he had to dodge another stream of fire.

The man took advantage of the fighting to set a meter to maximum, which resulted in Logan experiencing a roaring pain in his head. Kitty saw what had happened and decided to do something about it.

"I see what's going on!" She exclaimed before phasing through the console, causing everything to short circuit.

"No! What have you done?!" The man yelled in dismay.

"She fried that mother fucker, that's what!" Chelsea laughed as she joined in and started setting the place on fire.

Kurt immediately grabbed Kitty and teleported away, leaving Logan and Chelsea alone with the mad scientist since Sabertooth had taken the moment to flee the exploding lab.

Logan walked up to the man and threw him into the damaged control panels. "The weapon X program is terminated." He growled.

Chelsea smirked as she grabbed the man by the arms and locked him into place with some broken metal. "And you're going down with it, douchebag." She smirked as both then took this moment to flee, the woman turning into her dragon form.

(Elsewhere)

Kurt and Kitty saw the lab explode and leave a smokescreen behind. The two were hoping Logan and Chelsea made it out in time.

After a few minutes of waiting, they heard footsteps coming towards them and looked to see Logan making his way to them, his costume torn in several places. For some reason, Chelsea was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Chelsea?" Kitty asked.

Logan collapsed to his knees in exhaustion. "She's… Headed to Bayville, apparently she was headed there before we almost crashed into her with the X-Jet, and now she's finally gonna get there." He then let the kids help him get into the jet. "She was also trying to find the Institute, so I gave her directions to get there." He finished as the kids set him in a passenger seat.

"Vell then, I guess ve'll have to say hi to her the next time ve see her, huh?" Kurt chuckled as he set the autopilot to home.

"Yeah, I guess so elf, I guess so." Logan nodded.

(The next day)

Chelsea walked out of a motel she had stayed in after she got to Bayville, and was now going to go to her final destination, the Xavier Institute.

"Alright X-men, hope you're ready, cuz imma coming." She smirked as she started walking towards the mansion that was in the distance, her duffel bag slung over her shoulder.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: A Dragon's Tale **

-_Bayville, Hogan's Street Side Stop Bar-_

Inside a bar in the town of Bayville,Chelsea Marks was sitting at said bar having a much needed drink. She had just struck it lucky and not _only _got the directions she needed to get to the Xavier Institute, but also met some of the people who stay and work there. And honestly? First impressions were pretty damn solid in her book, especially in the case of the ruggedly handsome loner, Logan.

Needless to say, she was most likely gonna like it there. Now you might be wondering, why isn't she there now? Well that answer is simple: She first had to make sure she wasn't followed before she did anything. She had spent the last day making sure of that. Once that was done she then made contact with the Xavier Institute, and the guy who answered (Charles Xavier himself) told her that he'd send someone to pick her up.

Now she was sitting in the bar that she told Xavier to send the person picking her up, and was having a glass of scotch while she waited.

"So, you new in town?" The bartender asked her.

"Yup. Just arrived last night." She replied.

"Well then, welcome to Bayville. You know if you'll be staying long?" He questioned.

"I think my stay will be permanent, considering where I'm going." The dragoness responded.

"Oh? And where's that, if I may ask?" The man questioned further, now rather curious.

"You know Xavier's Institute?" She asked, getting a nod in return. "That's where I'm staying."

"Oh, so you're staying at Logan's place of work? That's a nice set up. Let me guess, you got a job as one of their instructors? Logan tells me the pay's pretty good with that job." The barkeep inquired.

"Actually, I haven't actually gotten a job as an instructor. After what you told me, though, I guess I know what to expect." Chelsea replied.

"Glad to be of service." He nodded while holding out a hand as he set down the glass he had been cleaning. "I'm Hogan by the way, I own this establishment."

"Name's Chelsea Marks. Thanks for welcoming me to town, Hogan." She introduced and thanked him in one go. "So you know Logan too?"

"Yeah, he's a regular here. You know him?" Hogan asked.

"Yeah, I met him on Mt. McKenna. I helped him when he was attacked by a wild cat and in return he offered me a job at the Institute." She nodded as she finished her drink.

Hogan nodded as he refilled her drink, Chelsea was about to tell him that he didn't have to but was stopped.

"No, I insist, any friend of Logan's is a friend of mine." The man told her.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, the woman took the free drink without complaint and started sipping from it.

Right at that moment, the doors of the bar opened and lo and behold, Logan himself walked in. After looking around for a moment, his eyes landed on Chelsea. He then walked over and took a seat beside her.

"Well speak of the devil, hey Logan, we were just talking about you." Hogan smiled at the scraggly man. "Let me guess, the usual?" The barkeep asked.

"Yup." Logan nodded. Hogan simply went around the bar and then came back with an icy mug filled with ice, and a bottle of beer, more specifically a bottle of Molson, a Canadian Lager.

Logan simply removed the bottle's cap and poured its contents into the mug, the fizz of the beer capping off the top of the mug as he drank from it.

Chelsea watched him and rolled her eyes. "What is it with you men and beer?" She questioned with a smirk.

"I didn't hear you complaining about alcohol when you were drinking your whiskey." Hogan retorted with a smirk of his own.

"I'm just making an observation, I mean if you were to ask me. Beer, in my opinion, is no different from piss. That shit will never getcha drunk. A real man drinks either Whiskey or Rum, and a real woman…" She then took a drink from her glass. "Drinks Scotch." She then smirked at him. "Though if ya don't got the balls to try and hang out with a woman, well, I could dress you up in a skirt and take you out for a night of dancing."

Chelsea's joke caused the two men to chuckle. Neither of them would be caught dead in a skirt, which was a fact. Logan then decided to go on the offensive and play along.

"Alright, Blondie, ya wanna see a real man? Let's go, shot for shot." Logan said while snapping his fingers. "Hogan, get us some Bacardi." He requested, causing the barkeep to chuckle.

"You got it." He replied as he went to get the requested drink.

"So, Logan, I'm guessing you're the one that Charles guy said would be picking me up?" Chelsea asked as she leaned back against the bar, whipping her hair away from her face.

"Yeah, Charles mentioned you needed a lift so I decided to do it since everyone else was busy. Besides, it was either me or one of our students, namely a kid named Gavin Shirakumo. I swear, ever since that kid got that new car of his he's been itching to get someone to ride with him." Logan nodded.

"Shirakumo… Is he a Japanese kid?" She asked curiously.

"Yup. He's also the best sword user in the Institute, which is a given since we picked him up from a fencing academy." The metal boned mutant explained. Right then, Hogan came back with the requested drink.

"Here ya go, one challenge sized Bacardi bottle and two glasses." Hogan said as he then turned to the rest of the bar's patrons. "Hey everybody, Logan's got a new challenger this week! Better place your bets now!"

The patrons immediately started placing their bets, knowing how legendary Logan's tolerance for alcohol is. A few of them actually bet on Chelsea, wondering if she could match him in drinking. Those that did bet on her made sure to bet lightly, though.

Chelsea smirked as the two started downing the alcohol as fast as Hogan could pour it. This act of pouring and chugging went on as if it was on repeat for a while.

(Elsewhere)

Outside of Bayville a trio of cruisers drove up to the line of the town, all three had the symbol of HYDRA on them. The driver of the lead vehicle looked at the man beside him.

"Are you certain this is the location?" He asked.

"Affirmative. This is where her tracking chip is transmitting from." The co-pilot replied.

"Then let our hunt continue." The leader nodded as they continued driving.

(Meanwhile)

-_Hogan's Street Side Bar, an hour later-_

Logan and Chelsea had just finished three fourths of the bottle of rum, when the dragoness started to sway from side to side, an indication that she was drunk.

The blonde slowly swayed before she passed out, her head dropping on the bar as her eyes were dropping. Her face red and with a drunken expression.

"And we have a winner!" Hogan called as he held up Logan's arm.

The people who bet on him cheered while the ones who bet on Chelsea grumbled a bit while being thankful for having the common sense to bet lightly.

Logan stretched as he hoisted Chelsea over his shoulder and paid Hogan for the drinks. "See you around Hogan." He said as he walked outside and carried the woman to the X-Van, which he had taken with him, putting her in the passenger seat and then getting in, driving off towards the Institute as the sun started to set.

After arriving and parking the X-Van in the garage, he took the drunken dragon to one of the guest rooms to let her recover. After tucking her in, he put some hangover medicine on the desk in case she needed it. He didn't know if she would need it or not considering she's got dragon abilities, but he'd rather not take that chance right now. He then wrote a note and put it next to the bottle.

As he left the room, he saw Gavin walking down the hall with his music player on while he listened to his favorite tunes.

"Hey there, Smokey." The man nodded at the boy.

The boy removed his headphones as he nodded, noticing the sleeping blonde in the next room. "Hey Logan, is that the dragon lady we've heard about?" He asked.

Logan nodded in affirmative. "Yup, that's her alright. Don't bother talking to her right now. She challenged me to a drinking competition and lost, so she's passed out from all the drinking." He replied as he told the pseudo vampire of her current state.

"Okay… Say, you checked her for tracking devices yet?" Gavin questioned out of nowhere.

That caused Logan to pause before cursing under his breath. "Crap, I forgot to do that!" He growled.

As if on cue, the mansion's proximity alerts went off, signaling they had company. "We got company!" Kurt said as he ported to where they were.

"Who is it?" Gavin asked.

"Some guys with guns and tentacled skulls on their uniforms." The fuzzy blue mutant told them.

"HYDRA…!" Gavin growled angrily. He didn't have any sort of positive opinion for the Nazis due to what they did. HYDRA was perhaps the sole remnant of their dark existence.

All of the X-men ran outside of the building and faced the group of six that stepped out of the vehicles. Professor Xavier rolled up to the front of the group.

"You have no business being here, leave now." The man told them firmly.

"One of our subjects is here. Hand her over, and _maybe _we'll let you live." The squad leader threatened.

"Like I'd do anything you say, parasite!" Gavin growled murderously. He then tugged on his gloves. "Release control art seal, Level 3, 2, and 1."

"Gavin, no!" Xavier tried to tell the boy, but it was too late. The pseudo vampire charged at the men and stopped right in the center of them, sword drawn.

"Hey guys, how's ya health plan?" He asked the men before they started shooting at him. "APPARENTLY IT'S GREAT!" He shouted before he started attacking them, slicing one in half, decapitating another two, stabbing one through the mouth, and then took the last one's legs off.

As the last remaining one was starting to crawl away, blood flowing onto the concrete of the Institute walkway, Gavin stabbed his sword through the man's back, then bent down to talk to him. "Let this be a lesson to you Nazi fucks, you mess with one of us? You mess with us all. Say hi to Hitler for me, bye." He smirked as he hoisted the man up with his sword and hurled him into the windshield of one of the carriers.

"Gavin, What, what did you just-?" Xavier said in shock.

"I just took out some Nazis, that's what." The boy responded before he returned to normal, making him jump in shock. "Whoa… Wait, why are the Nazis dead?... Ohhh my head." He groaned as he clutched his head.

"Are you alright?" Storm asked in concern.

"Yeah. I remember releasing my seals, but, after that it's all nothing but red." The boy said, shaking his head. "That's never happened before."

"If you've got a therapist, go see them. You might need it." Logan advised.

"Right…" The boy nodded before looking at Xavier sheepishly. "Sorry Professor, looks like I lost control… Again."

"More than that, as far as I can tell." Charles deadpanned.

"Yeah… Sorry." Gavin sighed sheepishly.

"You were not in your right mind at the time, so I'll let it slide. But I must urge you to keep yourself in control, do not let this become a pattern." The man told him.

"I can't promise anything, there. It feels like my seals are starting to possibly fail." The young pseudo vampire replied as another migraine suddenly struck him, causing him to wince and hold his head.

Xavier nodded as he rolled over to the boy as he let the man probe his mind. As the man looked through it, he saw four gates, each with the numbers 3-0 on them, and they seemed to be slowly crumbling. When he tried to continue forward, a _powerful _presence forced him out of the boy's mind as he reeled back.

The elder telepath took a moment to clear up his head. After that, he addressed Gavin.

"You're right, Gavin. Your seals are starting to fail, most likely from releasing them so frequently." He explained, causing Gavin to look alarmed.

"Oh no… If they all fail at once, I'll end up being forced to my level zero personality." He said in a dire tone, getting some worried looks from everyone.

"Then I suggest we work on your fighting so that you won't have to release your seals until they are fixed." Xavier nodded.

"Right." The boy agreed.

(The Next Day)

-_Chelsea's room-_

Chelsea slowly woke up as she stretched and felt the effects of a hangover settle in, causing her to grasp her head in pain.

"Ugh, I should've taken it easy on those drinks." She groaned. Looking around the room, she saw how much it felt like a home. She then noticed the hangover medicine on the desk and rushed over to it.

"Oh sweet Jesus, thank you!" She said as she immediately downed a few pills. Then she noticed the note next to it.

'_Chelsea, here's some Tylenol for your hangover. We had a brief visit from HYDRA last night because I forgot to check you for tracking devices, but we were able to get rid of them. Come down to eat something, and after you've eaten come to our med bay so we can get that tracker removed. - Logan.' _It read.

The dragoness sighed in relief. "Looks like I made the right choice by coming here." She sighed as she put on her jacket and walked downstairs, but suddenly had to duck when a small, and furry flying object buzzed over her head.

"What the hell?!" She gasped as she saw what it was, it was a fuzzy brown bat. "A bat? Where'd it come from?"

As if the whole thing was staged, a voice called out to the bat from behind her.

"Brownie, get back here!" Gavin called, causing Chelsea to look in his direction. The boy immediately turned to smoke and caught the little animal while avoiding the woman's head.

"Gotcha!" He smirked as the little flying mammal chittered at him angrily. "Don't gimme that shit. You know you gotta take a bath, and you know I'm not gonna let you fly around here while you're dirty and get everyone sick."

"What the heck am I looking at here?" Chelsea wondered as she scratched her head, causing Gavin to look in her direction.

"Oh, you're awake. Welcome to the Institute." He greeted her with a small bow.

The woman looked him over and noted that he was obviously of Japanese, but also obviously a mixed race kid, noticing subtle differences such as lighter hair and eye color being red, which was an extremely rare trait usually only found in people of European descent.

"So I'm guessing you're Gavin, right? Logan mentioned there was a half Japanese kid here." She said simply.

Gavin looked at her with a bit of surprise. "Huh, astute observation there. But yeah, I'm Gavin, and the little furball here that doesn't want his bath is Brownie, my pet bat." He said as he introduced himself and his pet, who chittered indignantly at him for the way he was introduced.

"Nice. Say, any chance ya could show me where I can get something to eat around here?" The woman asked before clutching her head. "And maybe some coffee?"

"Sure, right this way." He nodded, leading her to the Institute's kitchen where everyone was having Saturday morning brunch. "You're in luck, today is brunch, and the Prof pulls out all the stops for it every time." The boy smirked as he licked his elongated fangs, which his little furry companion copied as it rested on his shoulder.

"Ugh, brunch sounds so fucking good right now." Chelsea groaned with a look of bliss on her face as her stomach rumbled with hunger.

As the two sat down Gavin took a seat next to Rogue and Chelsea sat next to Logan. Everyone looked at the Dragoness and all waved at her.

"Like, hey Chelsea! So glad you were finally able to make it!" Kitty smiled at the woman.

"Hey, Kitty. Nice to know I've got a few familiar faces around." The blonde responded with a smile of her own.

"Wait, y'all know each other?" Rogue asked.

"We met during that little scenario at Mt. McKenna. Same with Kurt, too." Kitty explained.

"Yeah. She vas actually in dragon mode vhen she saved me from Sabertooth. I vas actually worried I vould get eaten." He said with a small shiver.

"Nah, I make it a rule to never eat anything that can talk back to me. Plus, your fur would've just gotten stuck in my teeth." Chelsea chuckled darkly as she started to chow down on a stack of waffles, large links of sausage, bacon, and a fully loaded omelet with smoked salmon on top. As well as chugging down several mugs of coffee.

"... Yup, she's part dragon alright." Gavin deadpanned, getting almost everyone else to agree.

"You're one to talk, man. I'm still trying to hide those puncture wounds you gave my neck last week. Next time, keep your fangs to yourself." Evan complained, rubbing his neck.

"That may have been an early sign of his seals starting to fail." Jean mused as she ate some eggs.

"Seals?" Chelsea asked, pausing in her ravenous consumption of the food present on the table.

"Yes, It has recently been discovered that Gavin… Is not exactly what you'd call normal, even by mutant standards." Ororo stated.

"That's an understatement." Scott said, getting an elbow to the ribs from Jean as she gestured to the pseudo vampire who had stopped eating and looked upset, Brownie trying to cheer him up by nuzzling his chin.

"Yes, as of yesterday, I have confirmed my suspicions that Gavin is indeed, an Omega Level mutant." Xavier nodded.

Everyone went quiet when that was mentioned. Chelsea though, seemed confused. "Wait, what's an Omega Level mutant?" She asked.

"Mutants are at that level have powers that are very near cosmic level, and Gavin's is particularly interesting because in order to keep him from going through a form of crippling psychosis, his mother had several mental blocks put on him by a Telepathic psychiatrist, these seals keep his various sides of his personality and levels of power at bay." Xavier explained. "The more levels are released, the more 'unhinged' he becomes."

"Do I want to know how unhinged he becomes?" Chelsea asked, slightly shuddering at the mention of telepaths.

"Trust me, you don't." Gavin grumbled as he begrudgingly started to eat and Rogue put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner.

"So, what are your powers, kid?" She asked.

"I got retractable vampire fangs that drain vitality, enhanced strength, agility, durability, speed, senses (especially hearing), a Healing factor and I can also turn into smoke." Gavin told her, his fangs visible as he ate.

Chelsea was surprised by this. "So you're a mutant vampire, huh? Cool."

The brunch went on without much else happening, except maybe Scott being chewed out by Jean about what he said to Gavin and Chelsea mentioning that she wasn't too fond of telepaths due to some bad experiences with one when she was still in HYDRA's grasp.

Afterwards, Chelsea went down to the med bay and met Charles in an operation room where she was in a hospital gown, getting an X-ray to find the tracker.

"So, where is it?" Chelsea asked as she laid down on an examination table.

"Just below your right shoulder blade. We should be able to get it out in a few minutes." Charles told her as he gave her the needed anesthesia.

The dragoness slowly felt herself drift off to sleep as the chemicals took effect.

(Chelsea's dream)

The woman looked around and saw that she was in some sort of vat of liquid and her body was only covered by a silver lycra skirt that was very short and barely contained her lower assets and a small wrap around her breasts, which barely contained her C-cup rack. Tubes were all over her body and a respirator was in her mouth.

She tried to struggle and get free but her arms, legs and neck were chained into place. The woman looked down and saw a man in a lab coat with glasses and greasy hair looking at her.

"Hello, subject Tiamat. Ready for today's treatment?" He asked as he waved a finger over a control panel.

Chelsea tried to scream as she kept struggling, knowing what was coming, she screamed and squirmed, she wanted, no, she _needed _to get out of there fast, anything to get away from what was about to happen.

The man's finger hit a button on the control panel, causing electricity to course through the green liquid and shock her, making her stiffen, then a red liquid flowed through the tubes and into her body. This caused her to scream in pain as she felt her body start to change and alter before everything went black.

(Back in reality)

Chelsea shot up as she felt her body to make sure nothing happened, before realizing where she was, she was in a set of pajamas and in her new room.

The woman put her hand on her head as she felt where the tracking device was, noticing it was replaced by a small piece of bandage. She removed it, revealing that the opening was already healed.

She then looked down at her body, which was larger in certain areas than in the dream. "Damn you, Rowner… Why can't I just forget you?" She groaned as she laid down on her side. She then looked at the Institute business card Bast gave her which was on her night stand. "Miss you already Bast, thanks for helping me get here." She sighed as she fell asleep.

(Elsewhere)

A cat woman in a shroud was in New York and working at a homeless shelter before she sneezed. As she wiped her nose she looked up at the sky.

"Someone's talking about me… Wonder if it was Chelsea?" She wondered aloud as she went back to work.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Out of the Cauldron, into the Fire**

It was a full week after Chelsea had officially joined the X-men, and three days after that week, Professor Xavier was finally able to get in contact with Gavin's therapist. The very same one that had put the Control Art seals and mental blocks on his powers, the man had called this person in order for them to help with the situation.

Luckily for them, said therapist arrived at the Institute sooner than they had anticipated. As there was a knock on the door of the mansion, Charles answered the door to see who it was.

Standing in front of him at the other side of the door was a woman with platinum blonde hair, icy blue eyes, porcelain skin that rivaled the most high quality antique dolls, and her figure was like that of an absolute _bombshell_. She had the wide and hypnotic hips of the sexiest of pro strippers, long legs with smooth and thick thighs, slender feminine arms and hands, a heart shaped ass and a rack that had to clock in at _least _F or G cup. Lastly she had plump lips that were painted an icy blue and her attire consisted of a light blue tight fitting business suit that showed off the top of her ample cleavage.

This woman is Emma Frost, Gavin's therapist and a telepath.

"Miss Frost, I presume?" Xavier questioned the woman.

"You presume correctly." She nodded in confirmation. The woman walked in as she looked around at the mansion's main foyer. "How bad has the decay of Gavin's seals gotten?" Emma asked.

"Quite extensive I'm afraid… And I'm starting to suspect we don't have much time until his personalities merge back together." The man stated gravely as he showed her to his office.

"How is it he was allowed to release the seals so frequently? At best he's only supposed to be able to do it during an emergency, that's the way his mother requested it!" The woman snapped angrily, her thick English accent cutting through the air like a knife.

"I suspect he may have gotten reliant on the action or something else entirely. Either way, the incident with HYDRA operatives showing up at our front door seemed to make that clear." He explained as Emma looked at him in shock before putting a hand to her face.

"The boy always did have a sore spot towards people like that, it's why he hates learning about the atrocities committed by the Japanese in the Second World War. It fills him with immense self loathing that often results in him lashing out in the most brutal way possible physically, and acting atrociously vulgar verbally… His Level 1 personality is a prime example." Emma groaned in aggravation.

"If it's that bad, then I fear what his Level 0 personality is like." The Professor confessed.

"Are you familiar with the children's video game, Castlevania?" The woman asked.

"Yes. Why?" He replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Gavin's Level 0 personality takes various cues from this reimagination of Dracula. He becomes a full blown sociopath with zero sense of empathy or sympathy, an air of blatant arrogance and hubris, and he also has a god complex to match… And the power to back it up." The blonde continued as they entered Xavier's office.

"That… Troubles me greatly." Charles said as they finally entered the bald man's office. "How long will it take to fix the seals?" He asked.

"Over the course of three days at least. However, I can place a temporary mental stop gap to slow the progress, but if he releases them or becomes overwhelmed with power- it may very well shatter and immediately revert him to Level 0." Emma warned.

"I understand, then I suggest we have this mental block put in place as soon as he gets back from school." Xavier nodded.

(Later…)

Chelsea was walking back to the Institute after going shopping for groceries per the Prof's orders, but when she got to the kitchen to put away said groceries, she was met with an unfamiliar face: A blonde bombshell dressed in a blue pantsuit.

"Just who are you supposed to be?" She asked the platinum blonde in front of her.

The woman turned to her and then put on a smile, which Chelsea assumed to be fake due to its seductive undertones. "Hello, I don't believe we've met. I am Dr. Emma Frost, Psychiatrist. And you are?" She asked.

"Chelsea Marks, the most recent one to move in here." The blond dragoness replied.

"Ah I remember, you were the one Gavin mentioned in his weekly checkup emails. I must admit it is good to see he's finally found someone who gets along with him that's of the older variety." Emma smiled. "He speaks quite highly of you, in fact he seems to be starting to see you as an older sister of sorts."

"... Does he?" She asked with a surprised expression.

"Yes, though that's inconclusive since you've only known each other for a short while, but he does seem to at least enjoy your company." The other blonde nodded.

Chelsea chuckled. She honestly kinda found the kid funny, childish at times, but still a nice kid, though she hadn't realized that the reason why he kept hanging around her was because he saw her as an older sister, honestly the bickering they often had kinda sent the opposite message.

Just then both heard the door of the refrigerator open as they turned around and saw the very kid they were talking about rummaging through the contents of said appliance. He apparently hadn't even noticed they were there.

"Okay, who ate my 100% Bison jerky?! Again!" The boy snapped as he slammed the door shut. "Chels I swear to god, if you ate my jerky I'm gonna-" He stopped speaking however when he saw the two women standing there. "Uh, hey miss Frost… You're here early." The boy said sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

"Hello, Gavin. I decided to rush over as soon as I heard your seals were decaying." Emma greeted him before smacking him on the head. "What in the world were you thinking, releasing the seals so frequently?!" She questioned with an irritated expression.

"Ummm…. I've been in a lot of emergencies lately? I mean just a couple weeks ago I had to fight this guy called the Juggernaut." Gavin explained.

"Did that really require releasing the seals?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Given that it took both the X-men and the Brotherhood to take him down? Yeah, I'd say so." He nodded.

The woman sighed as she rubbed her temples. "Fine, fine. Please, just have a seat so that I can place the temporary mental stop gap in place for the time being."

Gavin nodded as he sat down and Chelsea just shrugged and started getting the groceries put away (although she internally shuddered at the fact she was in the same room as a telepath she didn't know) while the blonde got to work.

(Later)

Xavier was prepping the X-jet to go to the location of a new mutant signature in the island state of Hawaii, and was soon met up by Scott.

"Professor, is it true? Did you- did you really find my brother?" Scott asked as he tried to catch his breath.

"Yes. We detected him in Hawaii, and we need to get to him before… Other unsavory people do." Charles explained.

"Well come on, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Scott said as he ran into the jet and started to fly off.

As soon as they had left, Rogue, Kitty, Evan and Gavin all arrived in beachwear, only to watch the plane blast off into the distance towards Hawaii.

"Oh come on! That's not cool at all!" Evan complained.

"No kidding. And we got ready for the beach, too." Gavin whined in dismay.

Right at that moment Kurt popped in, and he was already dressed in full beach gear, and immediately regretted it the second he saw what was going on.

"Aw man!" The fuzz ball whined.

There was a moment of silence before Gavin broke it.

"Road trip, anyone?" He asked. This got an enthusiastic cheer from everyone else.

Everyone loaded up into the X-Van and waited for Rogue to join them. After a few minutes, the southern belle ran up to the van. Gavin was running a little late too since he was trying to get Chelsea to come with them.

"Come on Chels, it's not like you've got much else to do around here, do you?" The boy asked. He had actually been in a much better mood after the mental block was put in by Emma before she left to go to her hotel.

The green eyed blonde rolled her eyes at the boy. Then she looked at how he seemed to really want her to go, which made her slowly start to cave.

"You're sure you want me around you guys?" She questioned. "I'm not exactly the most sociable gal on the block, ya know."

"Jeez, you sound just like Rogue! Come on, stop being such a killjoy and let's _go_!" The pseudo vampire said before grabbing her by the arm and dragging her a couple feet.

Chelsea sighed before caving in. "Alright, fine. I'll go." She said with a defeated tone. "But at least let me get changed. Kitty got me a new swimsuit a couple days ago and I gotta get it worn in anyway…"

After she got dressed, Chelsea joined the kids in the Van and they all drove off before Storm could stop them from going.

Unbeknownst to them, Mystique had seen them leaving. She took out a radio and called the Brotherhood.

"Change in plans. They're on the move." She said.

(With Chelsea and the kids)

The kids were all sitting in the Van while Gavin was at the wheel, Chelsea was in the passenger seat next to him and she was wearing a loose fitting red shirt over a black string bikini top and a pair of shorts over a matching black bottom half.

"Man this sun feels good!" The blonde smiled.

"It ought to, I mean you _are _part cold blooded lizard after all." Gavin chuckled.

"Shut up." Said lizard woman retorted, though there was a smirk on her face. "And besides, aren't vampires supposed to hate the sun?"

"Oi, don't bring that stereotype into this!" The goofy vampire shot back with his own smirk.

"Speak for yourselves! Have you ever tried being out in the sun with blue fur? It's murder!" Kurt complained.

Right as he said that, Gavin had to swerve out of the way as the road started to crack and upheave itself.

"What the-?! What's going on?!" The horror lover questioned in alarm.

As if on cue another vehicle hit them from behind, everyone turned around and saw that it was the Brotherhood in their Jeep.

"Friends of yours?!" Chelsea snapped.

"Not even close!" Rogue replied as they swerved around the rock being upheaved in their path only for them to be caught by the Blob and lifted off the ground before being tossed onto the sand nearby.

The group got up and readied themselves to fight. They had been looking forward to a nice day at the beach, so they were pretty miffed about being interrupted on the way there in such a way.

"Okay, what is it about this time?" Gavin questioned.

Devin was the one to walk up and speak first. "Hello, brother." He said to his twin.

"Magneto's got a competition of sorts going on. The winners get to go straight to his private fortress." Avalanche explained.

Gavin glared at him while flipping him off. "Well tell Magneto I said fuck off." He then turned to the others. "Come on guys, let's go. If they wanna fight with each other, let 'em. Why should we give a fuck?"

"Yeah!" Everyone nodded in agreement.

As the group started to move away from the brotherhood, but apparently the small band of schmucks weren't going to let that happen.

"You don't get a say in this!" The quake generating mutant exclaimed before causing a tremor to make them fall over. This gave the rest of the Brotherhood the chance to charge in.

Chelsea, who was honestly fed up by this point, decided to skip precautions and went full dragon, growing to her full size and using her giant tail to swat the boy away like a fly.

The rest of her enemies froze and looked at her in fear. She turned to the rest and roared at them, basically telling them to get lost before something bad happened to them.

"... On second thought, you can go!" Toad squeaked.

Blob dropped both Kurt and Kitty and backed away slowly while Pietro spun around and uncovered Evan who was buried in sand before dusting him off as he smiled sheepishly before backing away.

Lance just groaned as he just fell unconscious after hitting his head against a cliff side. Chelsea then returned to normal before she huffed in frustration at what had happened. After that, six huge silver orbs came flying towards them.

"What are these supposed to be?" Gavin wondered. Right at that moment, one of the pods opened up and some tentacles came out and grabbed him before pulling him in before he could react.

The remaining pods also grabbed Chelsea, Rogue, and Evan while the rest of the Brotherhood, save Lance, all freely stepped inside of the last pod before they all flew off into the distance.

(Elsewhere)

On a strange floating mass of stone, Professor Xavier was currently being pulled along by a man in red and purple armor, a purple cape and an odd looking helmet.

"What is the meaning of this, Magneto?" He asked as they went along.

"I'm simply ensuring our survival Charles, your X-men and my brotherhood are currently undergoing a trial by fire as we speak. And those who emerge victorious will take their place here on Asteroid M to fully realize their powers." Magneto told the man.

"And if they refuse?" Charles asked.

"Well, I have a plan for that." He then showed several containers with everyone in stasis, excluding Gavin for some reason.

"... You abducted them?!" Xavier asked in anger.

"I simply wish for them to hear me out. Besides, for every non believer, there is a new convert." Magneto stated before the Summers and Shirakumo brothers came into the room.

"What…? Scott, Gavin, why are you joining him?" The Professor asked.

"Joining?! The fuck are you talking about? _I'm _only here because Devin's here!" Gavin snapped before noticing the captured Rogue and Chelsea. He then started hissing at Magneto, fangs fully extended.

"And let Rogue and Chelsea go, or I swear to fucking _Christ _I'll kill you, Magneto!" The boy said as he started _marching _up to the master of magnetism and grabbed him by the lapels of his cape and _slammed _him into the adjacent wall, getting dangerously close to the man's face as he hissed, saliva dripping from his extended fangs.

"Brother, calm down! Now!" Devin tried to order his brother. The boy slowly started to force the pseudo vampire off of the other man while Magneto looked at the boy, then at Charles.

"That boy… He's an Omega Level mutant?" Magneto gasped as he regained his breath.

"Yes, and his mind is already in a rather… Fragmented state right now, so I suggest you tread lightly." Xavier told him.

"Cut the bullshit! Why exactly did you call us here?!" Gavin snapped.

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing." Scott nodded with a glare under his shades.

"To help your powers grow to their full potential." Magneto replied. He then walked over to some sort of chamber and held up some sort of red stone. "Are you familiar with the Crimson Gems of Cytorrak?" He asked.

"Isn't that what gave the Juggernaut his powers?" Gavin whispered to Devin who nodded.

"It's these gems that are said to possess mystical properties, but in reality, they emit a unique form of radiation." The living magnet said, earning shocked looks from everyone else.

"Wait, so you plan to nuke us?!" Alex, Scott's brother, snapped.

"The fuck is wrong with you?!" Gavin growled.

"I plan to evolve you! One must simply go into this chamber and your powers will be fully realized." Magneto told them. "No more pain Alex, no more hiding behind that visor Scott, no more having to live in the shadow of your brother Devin, and no more having to hide your true self behind those seals Gavin. You'll be in complete control!" He said enticingly, though Gavin still had his doubts.

"And in the event this backfires?" He asked.

"Oh it won't." The man then gestured to Sabertooth. "Sabertooth, a demonstration if you will, please."

The animal themed mutant grunted before he went into the chamber. A few moments later, Sabertooth came out with a more prehistoric look.

"... Well I'm intrigued, Gavin?" Devin asked his brother.

"If you're doing it bro? Sure." The boy nodded in surprise.

Scott looked at Alex who shrugged. All four then turned to magneto. "Okay we saw, now what?" Scott asked.

"Your choice now, will you accept my offer, or not?" The man questioned. Xavier, who was behind him, decided to telepathically intervene.

'_Scott, Gavin, don't go in the machine! The radiation will alter your minds!' _He mentally called out to them.

Sadly, Magneto sent him into one of the tanks, causing both boys to lunge at him before being stopped by their brothers.

"Why are you stopping me? Can't you see? He's going to try and brainwash us the second we get in that chamber." Gavin growled at the metal boy.

"How do you know if that's actually true?" Devin countered.

"This guys a textbook super villain, it's what they do, isn't it?" The boy hissed back as Devin forced him away.

"You can't know that for sure, let's at least try it." Devin stated.

Alex nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's what I think we should do too."

Gavin growled before, with great reluctance, he stepped into the machine's chamber. Scott was hesitant, too, but acquiesced. A few minutes later Xavier and the others were woken up just as the process was finished.

"You're too late, Charles. They're mine now." Magneto told him, but before he could say anything else, the door of the chamber was blown off its hinges as Scott, Alex, and Devin were hurled out of the chamber and into the adjacent wall. Smoke came from the opening and became solid, almost becoming the shape of huge hands that grabbed and cracked the walls around them, the smoke was even turning any and all oxygen into its own chemical structure.

As everyone in the room looked at the chamber in shock, Gavin's voice came from it, deeper than before. "When hope is gone, undo this lock, and send me forth, on a moonlit walk. Release restraint Level… 0." He intoned.

The second the number zero left Gavin's lips, Professor Xavier paled in fear. He whirled his head at Magneto, who actually looked concerned about what had happened.

"You fool! Do you realize what you've unleashed?!" He shouted at the master of magnetism.

Gavin slowly walked out of the chamber, his black hair now reaching his mid back and his already impressive build being even more well rounded. The boy cracked his neck from side to side as he looked at everyone, his gaze seemed like he thought of them as lesser, lower than bugs to be squashed underfoot.

"You think you intimidate me, boy?! No man can reach my level of power!" Magneto growled.

Gavin then laughed as he smiled maniacally. "But what is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets." He replied with a tone of arrogance. "But enough talk, have at you!"

The man growled as he charged at the boy, but was soundly shocked and defied this advance when Gavin simply backhanded him into another wall, a crater forming from the impact. Pulling himself out of the wall, Magneto lifted and threw several consoles at him.

Gavin simply waved his hand to the side dismissively and his smoke caught the objects in mid air and then hurled them aside as if he were using telekinesis. "Pathetic." He stated.

He then charged at the living magnet with a fist reeled back. Once he was within range, he sent Magneto flying into a wall. Devin, now recovered, jumped on his brother's back in an attempt to stop him. Gavin growled as he forced his smoke around them and started converting all the oxygen around Devin into more smoke, slowly depriving him of air. After he passed out, he tossed him aside and turned his attention back to Magneto.

But before he could do anything, both Scott and Alex, who had white hair now for some reason, all started blasting him with their enhanced powers, but the pseudo vampire's newly enhanced healing factor kept healing the damage at a subatomic level faster than they could damage him.

Gavin stuck out his hands and started walking towards them as they struggled to push him back, but as soon as he got close enough he grabbed Scott by the face. Stopping his optical blasts and then grabbed Alex by the wrists, right before slamming Scott's head into the ground repeatedly, and forcing Alex back and karate chopping both his arms with relatively light effort, but it was more than enough to break both of them. As a finishing blow, Gavin cross chopped Alex at either side of his neck, knocking him out.

As this was going on, Logan was on his way to the fortress with Mystique and the others who lost the challenge. Their mode of transport was… Unconventional, put simply.

"Oh man, you hear that? This thing's creaking like Fred's bed after a night at the buffet! Can't we slow it down? There's tough metal in it, right?" Lance asked, getting really sick

"Nope, there's no metal in this bird. It's all plastic." Logan replied with a smirk.

"What?!" Lance got out in fear. "Great, death by kamikaze bomb in a plastic helicopter, this royally sucks!"

"Pipe down, Lance!" Kitty snapped.

Back at the fortress, a proximity alarm went off. Sabertooth noticed it and alerted Magneto.

"Hey, we got visitors coming our way!" He called out.

Magneto slowly tried to get back on his feet. Gavin was merciless in this state, and it showed. The elder magnet master was actually having a serious amount of trouble. When Sabertooth called out to him about the incoming company, he decided enough was enough.

He stumbled to the observation deck as Sabertooth and Blob tried in vain to stop Gavin as the boy simply palm struck Blob's massive stomach and made him fall to his knees and vomit. The blubber bomb slowly looked up at Gavin who glared down at him angrily.

"Do not look at me, _creature_!" He growled before kicking Fred clear across the room and into Sabertooth. "You are weak, undisciplined! Cowering behind power. You're not strong, you've simply forgotten what it feels like to be weak. Allow me to reacquaint you." He said, his voice full of arrogance as he walked over to them.

"Gavin, stop!" Rogue cried from the tank she was in. Her eyes were overflowing with tears at what she was seeing. "Please, stop this!" She begged him, falling to her knees inside the tank.

Suddenly, something crashed into the lab and stopped just short of one of the walls. Out of it came Wolverine, Mystique and the others.

"Mystique. You never could take no for an answer." Magneto stated.

Gavin glared over his shoulder at the new arrivals. Then slowly started to make his approach over to Magneto. The Master of Magnetism faced him and readied several freshly made metal bullets that were the size of footballs.

"You may be an Omega Level mutant boy, but I have far more experience than you. You don't have a chance." The man growled.

Gavin glared at him before his smoke started to surround him and form some sort of giant suit of armor straight out of Dracula untold, mist wings and all, his height dwarfing even Juggernaut.

"I am no simple mutant, Magneto. I am a _**GOD**_!" He roared as he drove his colossal fist down on the armored man. Magneto was slammed violently into the ground, the wind getting knocked right out of his lungs.

"This kid… He's insane!" Chelsea gasped as Wolverine set them free.

"So this is why he never wanted us to see his true self…" Storm said solemnly.

"A deep rooted feeling of self loathing. So this is what it was hiding, this poor boy." Xavier said, shaking his head before turning to Logan, Chelsea and Rogue. "Can you three try to get through to him?"

"We can try." Chelsea nodded.

"Then I leave the rest to you." The man nodded as he and Jean went over to Scott and Alex, who were slowly (and painfully) waking up.

"Urgh… Well if Magneto tried to alter our minds, Gavin definitely knocked it out of us." Scott groaned, clutching his head.

"No kidding." Alex agreed as he tried in vain to move his arms. "He… He broke both my arms!"

"Well, at least you guys are back now." Jean said as she tried to make a sling out of the jacket Alex was wearing. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I think so." He replied as he got to his feet.

Elsewhere, the three mutants were currently trying to stop Gavin, and were soon assisted by a now conscious Devin. But right as he tried to attack Gavin, his arm was cut off, and miraculously, the liquid metal user was able to put it back on by reabsorbing and forming it.

"Gavin, snap out of it!" Rogue cried out, hoping he'd listen.

But he wasn't. The boy simply sent a tendril of smoke at Chelsea, which she dodged and then picked up what looked like a sharpened piece of wood she found nearby.

"You intend to stake me?" Gavin asked with amusement in his voice.

"I don't, but he does." The dragoness said before tossing the stake to Devin who gripped it tightly.

The boy charged at his brother with the stake in hand. "I'm sorry brother, but this is going to hurt me a lot more than it'll hurt you!" He yelled before stabbing the stick into the pseudo vampire's chest… Only to realize that he hit the wrong side.

"Close…" Gavin started as he grabbed his brother by the wrist. "... But not close enough." He finished while gesturing to his heart.

It was at this moment, Devin, also known as Full Metal realized, he fucked up.

Gavin backhanded his brother viciously across the room, where he crashed into the wall and laid there, groaning in pain. The insane mutant turned his attention to Logan, Rogue and Chelsea.

Chelsea decided enough was enough. She transformed into her dragon form and stomped on Gavin while Wolverine jumped on top to add more weight, then she breathed fire down on the boy's face while thinking: '_Sorry Gavin, hope you don't hate me after this.' _And scorched the boy, causing his healing factor to have to reconstruct his face.

Next, Rogue grabbed his face and held him still as Xavier and Jean came over to them. But as the commotion was happening, Chelsea accidentally smacked Mystique into the enhancement chamber with her tail.

"Charles, Jean, now!" Wolverine called out.

Both telepaths concentrated as they sent several psychic waves into Gavin's mind, similarly to how Xavier disabled the Juggernaut. Gavin thrashed around as he tried to escape his confines, but it was all for naught as he couldn't break free. Seeing that this was a losing battle he simply just started laughing like a madman before he slowly fell unconscious from the psychic blasts aimed at him.

The Professor and Jean relaxed as soon as he fell unconscious and everyone else except Rogue let go. The reason for the white hair streaked girl not letting go is because she couldn't stop crying over what she had just witnessed from Gavin. Seeing him act like a sociopath broke her heart and she just couldn't pull herself together.

"Professor… Will he… Will he be alright? I mean, will we be able to bring back _our _Gavin again?" The girl asked through shaky breaths.

"We will, Rogue. We will." Xavier promised. "Now, it's time we left this place. We need Emma to get to work as soon as possible." He said, gesturing for the others to follow him to the X-Jet as the entire asteroid started to crumble. During the whole ordeal Scott and Alex had to use all their enhanced power to destroy the asteroid before it could damage the surrounding area, leaving them back to normal.

Rogue, meanwhile, was sitting in the back in silence, Gavin's head resting on her lap as she stroked his hair. She never wanted to see him turn into that again, because it wasn't the boy she knew, it wasn't the one she had come to call her friend.

(Three days later)

Gavin slowly woke up and looked around. He was in the med bay and he could definitely tell something bad happened to his head because for one, he had a raging headache and two, he couldn't remember a thing of what happened.

'_Okay, what the heck crashed onto my head?'_ He thought as he felt his headache throb.

As he looked around, he noticed someone was sitting in the room with him, it was Rogue. She was in a chair and she was resting on the side of his hospital bed sound asleep. He noticed the tear streaks on her face, indicating that she was crying. The thought caused Gavin to frown.

'_Please don't tell me I reverted to my level zero personality.' _He pleaded internally. He honestly couldn't think of another reason to see her in such a state.

"Rogue… Rogue, wake up." He told her as he slowly sat up, shaking her awake. The girl slowly started to wake as she saw him looking at her with a concerned look on his face, his newly grown long black hair hanging over one shoulder.

The moment Rogue registered she was awake and wasn't dreaming, she practically threw herself at Gavin, knocking him down into his bed again.

"You're awake! Oh thank God! Ah was so worried." She cried as she tackled him.

"Rogue, did I… Did I revert to my level zero self?" He asked reluctantly. His fears were confirmed when he felt the girl hugging him nod. "Oh god… I… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry you had to see that part of me." He apologized as he hugged her back tightly.

"Ah was… Ah was so scared. Ah thought ah would never see the you I knew again!" She got out as tears flowed from her eyes.

"Well, I'm back now. And I promise, I will make sure you never have to see that side of me again." He told her as he stroked the white hair from her face. "You really do look better with longer hair, you know that?"

"You too." The southern belle nodded as the two separated. The boy slowly got up as Rogue helped him walk. "Come on, let's go see the others."

"Yeah, let's." He nodded as they left the room together.

**And that is IT readers, that's the end of Season 1. And before any of you ask, no this wasn't a relationship confirmation, we still have at least a season or two before that happens, keep your shirts on. So, Gavin's Level 0 self, was it worth the wait? Let me know in the reviews. So until next time!**

**-Dragon Emperor0 **


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Caddyshack: Chelsea gets her GED.**

It had been around four weeks since the Asteroid M incident and everyone was finally starting to get back to normal. And in that time the Institute had become the new home of several new students, a group of kids who had come to be affectionately known by the older students and the teachers as the 'New Mutants'.

The group consisted of five boys and four girls. There was Robert "Bobby" Drake (aka Iceman), Roberto DeCasa (Sunspot), Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), Tabitha Smith (Boom Boom), Sam (Cannonball), Ray (Berserker), Amara (Magma) and finally little Jamie Maddrox (Multiple).

These kids were all the eager new arrivals at the school and were making themselves right at home, which was honestly a good thing. Though the new teacher, Chelsea Marks was finding it hard to adjust with the new kids all running around. Not that she didn't like them she liked kids, hell, she was actually quite fond of some of them. But with the new mutants around, things were kinda… Crowded, for lack of a better term.

Luckily for the blonde Dragoness, she had her friend with benefits, Logan, and pseudo vampire little brother figure, Gavin to help her adjust.

Speaking of the vampire boy, he and Chelsea were currently in the danger room doing some sparring. After what had happened with Gavin's seals, Chelsea had decided to make it her personal mission to help him become strong enough in his base form so he wouldn't have to constantly release his seals to win fights, which made Gavin both grateful and irritated at the same time.

Chelsea was in her X-men uniform, which was as black leotard with red boots similar to Cyclops's, arm length red fingerless gloves, strong red compression material on the sides, back of the arms and legs, as well as tough and thicker shoulder pads and a chest pad made of the same material, lastly her costume had two functional slits in the back near her shoulder blades for her wings to come out.

The blonde spread her wings and attempted to dive kick Gavin, who blocked her with the flat of his sword, Bloodfallen, sparks flying off the metal as the two clashed. After a moment or two, the vampiric swordsman shoved his trainer back.

"You're moving too slow." Chelsea chastised him as she skidded back.

"Well maybe I wouldn't be so slow, if I wasn't so goddamn tired!" The boy hissed as he held his sword close to his face before doing a forward lunge at the woman's red padded chest.

"Says the man who's practically nocturnal." The dragoness shot back while sidestepping the sword before breathing a stream of flames at him. Her horror loving student evaded the fire stream before charging at her, his blade poised to strike.

"That's only on weekends and vacation. I still have to go to school, you know." Gavin hissed back, while turning into smoke and surrounding her before striking from behind. "Not like you'd know anything about that would you, Marks?" He growled while slashing at her left flank.

"I never even finished high school in the first place!" She exclaimed indignantly, causing Gavin to pause mid-strike.

"... Come again?" He asked, unsure if he was hearing things or not.

Chelsea took this opportunity to sweep his legs out from under him, causing him to fall flat on his back, his floppy brimmed fedora slowly falling on top of his face after it got knocked off from his fall.

"You heard me the first time." She stated as she folded her arms.

"Okay, we are fixing that." Gavin declared seriously as he got up.

"Hey, don't go shaming me. Being kept as a test subject by a terrorist organization didn't exactly leave me with enough time to get my diploma." The blonde snapped, her green eyes turning draconic for a second.

"You're basically family to me, Chels, and I don't exactly like the idea of you not having a diploma. You're gonna need one eventually, the way I see it." The pseudo vampire said with folded arms.

'_That is something I think we can both agree on, Gavin.'_ The voice of Xavier said in both mentor and pupil's minds. '_I apologize for intruding, but seeing as that we're on the topic, could both of you please come to my office to discuss it further?'_

'_Sure.' _Gavin thought back in reply before noticing Chelsea trying to avoid shuddering. He raised an eyebrow at the sight.

"Before you ask, let's just say I've had some… Unpleasant experiences with telepaths." She told him, reading his body language.

"Tell us when you're ready to share it." Was Gavin's simple reply.

The two left the danger room and then went to Xavier's office, once inside, the man gestured for them to take a seat as soon as they entered, both taking one of the desk chairs in front of him.

"Alright Chuck, what gives?" Chelsea questioned the headmaster of the Institute.

"To put it mildly Chelsea, while I do understand that your circumstances are unique, and that your work here in training the children has been quite exemplary, I must admit that I would like for you to consider finishing your education." Xavier explained. "If only to improve your chances of finding other ways to supplement your personal income, if not anything else."

"I'd suggest a GED. They're the equivalent to a normal high school diploma and you can work at your own pace to get it." Gavin proposed, having heard of them and the working environment set up for students to get them.

"An excellent idea, Gavin." Charles agreed.

"Look guys, I appreciate the thought, really, but I didn't break out of HYDRA's iron grip and the hell I had to go through just to throw my brain in a blender by trying to go through high school, again." The blonde stated, crossing her left leg over her right and folding her arms.

"It's not a normal high school you'd be going to, though." The youngest one in the room pointed out.

"Gavin is right. While there are regular classes for adults trying to get their GED held at Bayville High during the weekends, the board of education has also made steps to allow people who prefer to do things at their own pace, and do the necessary work at their home with the provided materials." The telepath nodded.

"See? It's the best option available for you. Don't you want to at least give it a shot?" Gavin asked. "And besides, I'll help you if you need it."

Chelsea was silent as she thought it over. She really didn't want to melt her brain, but the idea of working at her own pace did have a good amount of appeal. Working from home was also nice, but it could be distracting if she wasn't careful. In the end, she decided on her response.

"Alright you two, you win. I'll give it a shot." She conceded.

The woman's vampiric pupil's face lit up almost immediately right before (as if on instinct) he wrapped his arms around her neck in a friendly hug. "Good to hear!" He smiled.

The green eyed woman's eyes widened as she awkwardly tried to return the gesture, resulting in an equally awkward hug that lasted a few seconds. "Uh… Yeah, sure." She said in a rather uncharacteristically sheepish tone.

After Gavin let go and sat back down, the Institute's headmaster began speaking again.

"I'll begin the process of getting you enrolled. When it's done, you'll be informed." He told the dragoness, getting a nod from her in return. The man then turned to Gavin. "As for you Gavin, I have some good news. I recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns the Bayville Oaks Country Club and it seems he has a job opening for a new Caddy, so I took the liberty of scheduling you an interview." Xavier informed the boy while handing him the said forms.

"Alright, I can finally do something fun!" Gavin whooped in joy.

"Don't Caddies carry around golf bags?" Chelsea chuckled.

"As long as I get to drive something, I don't care." The young vampire lover replied in a more calm tone. "Besides, haven't you ever seen the movie Caddyshack? If working at that country club is anything like that, then lugging around a few bags is a small price to pay."

"At least you'll be enjoying it." Charles sighed with a bit of relief since Gavin wasn't complaining.

-_A couple of days later.-_

About two days later after he went to the job interview Professor Xavier set up for him, Gavin was walking into the Institute with a pep in his step, twirling the keys of his 72 Chevelle as he walked into the kitchen. Whistling the tune of 'I'm Alright' by Kenny Loggins the whole way.

Everyone looked at him as he walked in and, Chelsea, still being the one to be dogging on him like an archetypical older sister, decided to find out what got him so happy.

"Hey Gav, what's up? Did something good happen or something?" She asked him.

The boy simply walked over to the fridge and pulled out a glass bottle of Coke, removed the cap with his fangs and spat it into the trash.

"Well *gulp* if you must know, I actually just got that job today at the Country Club downtown as a Caddy." He said as he drank his soda.

"Wait, you got the job? Nice!" The blonde said with a smile. "So, did you run into Rodney Dangerfeild and Chevy Chase over there?" Chelsea asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I wish. Bunch of other kids were there for the job, but I got the job because during my trial run, the patrons liked me the most out of all the other kids." The boy laughed. "But there's a problem with it."

"What's that?" Logan asked.

"I have a second job for when I'm not being a Caddy, which is pest control, more specifically, gopher duty." He explained with an annoyed expression.

"Oof, that sucks." Chelsea said with a wince.

"Gopher duty?" Logan huffed. "Should be pretty easy for you. Just smoke them out of their holes."

"I'm not going to do that!" Gavin yelped, appalled. "I'm not going to use my powers to kill some innocent animal, even if they're annoying as all hell."

"Alright, how about rodent killer?" The older man offered, unimpressed.

"I'm not doing that either!" The pseudo vampire snapped back.

"Alright, alright... Geez, we should have taken away one seal. It would give you some balls at least." The clawed mutant shrugged.

"Not funny Logan!" Gavin growled.

"Suck it up kid, a gopher will be the least of your worries." Chelsea chimed in.

"How so?" The boy questioned.

"I know the sort of people you'll be working for. Most of them are just trying to keep up appearances despite being in dead marriages for one reason or another." She leaned back against the kitchen island. "And let's just say for a lot of those older men, golf balls aren't the only type of balls they like to play with..."

"Ew, ew, ew, no! I don't need that in my head." Gavin said, nearly choking on his coke.

"What do you mean by that? Did you used to be a prostitute?" Jean questioned pointedly.

"No, I used to be an escort. Two completely different things, it was one of the few jobs I could handle at the time." Chelsea corrected.

"There's a difference? Well then, please continue." Jean said in a sarcastic tone, which the blonde ignored.

"Alright Red, I'll enlighten you." The woman snapped. "For me, having sex for money was the easiest way to get enough cash to pay for the necessities and yet still be on the run. Although I wouldn't limit myself to that, I would also find ways to manipulate men into thinking I was a professional escort, agreeing to be paid by dudes desperate for attention and social interaction of a beautiful woman." She continued rather angrily, before her temper urged her to continue, making everyone wonder if she realized what she was saying.

"Also, it was a way for me to reclaim control of my body after HYDRA did so much to me. I mean, not to sound vulgar, but I'm definitely a dom in the sheets, and honestly, for me, putting men in their places while being so vulnerable was almost therapeutic for me really." The woman shrugged as she finished talking.

Everyone was quiet while she said this before she continued while stretching. "I mean sure I used to work as an escort, but I only did actual sex work on the occasion that whoever was paying paid good, and even then I only did oral or anal, mainly because I didn't want to have to constantly carry around a bunch of condoms for an occasional job." She shrugged before looking out the window. "That and since I'm more… Fertile due to some stuff HYDRA did to me. So I'd rather be completely certain that when I actually have 'real' sex with someone, it'd be with someone I want to stick with." She then turned back to the others. "Get what I mean now?"

"I was being sarcastic." Jean deadpanned.

"... Yeah. I think so." Gavin replied after a moment of silence, being caught off guard by what she just explained.

Chelsea was quiet for a moment before she realized what she had just said, smacking herself in the face in a face palm. "Did I just say all that out loud?" She asked.

"Yup." Evan replied as he looked away to hide his blush.

"Shit, I knew I should've taken two hormone pills instead of one this morning." The blonde snapped to herself. Due to her higher hormone levels she tended to be more talkative than she'd usually be if she didn't take enough of her medication.

"I'm not even gonna ask…" Scott muttered to himself as he looked away awkwardly.

Jean, meanwhile, was covering Jamie's ears while she glared at Chelsea. "Perhaps next time when you're feeling more talkative, be sure to keep an eye on the subject." The telekinetic said.

"Noted." The blonde sighed as she held her head in her palm.

"Can ve please change the subject?" Kurt pleaded.

"By all means." The woman shrugged, the talk then returning to Gavin's new summer job.

-_Later that day in the garage, with Logan and Chelsea-_

Both healing mutants were in their usual hideaway in the garage of the mansion while the blonde dragoness began working on the schoolwork required for her GED, she and Logan both enjoying a cold Miller Light and occasional small talk to help pass the time.

"So your hormones make you more talkative, huh?" Logan asked.

"It's more like a nervous tick I got when I was younger and never quite shook. After my powers emerged and all those treatments done by HYDRA, it just progressively got worse as time went on." The woman shrugged.

"Hormones are connected to emotions." Logan shrugged as he sipped his beer.

"I know that, but it gets pretty embarrassing when you accidentally say something you'd rather keep to yourself." Chelsea said as she continued working.

"That aside, since HYDRA did try to turn you into a breeding stock, did that stop you from wanting to have kids?" Logan asked. He had been curious about this for the past couple hours, mainly because boredom drove his mind to the question.

"At first? Oh yeah. I mean they used fertility treatments on me before I escaped to try and repurpose me to just pop out babies. But... As time went on that feeling slowly started to fade. I'm guessing it's the chemicals that they pumped me with boosting my maternal instincts, but I'm definitely not opposed to it, but I'm not gonna do it on a whim. I'll decide when I'm ready and no one else will." The woman declared.

"Good for you." The scraggly man said as they sat in silence for a while. "So those training sessions with Gavin, how're they going?" Logan asked.

"We're getting there." Chelsea shrugged. "But I think I'm starting to see what Chuck meant by the kid having a deep rooted feeling of self loathing."

"Yeah, I can see him not feeling proud of what Japan did back then myself." The metal boned man agreed.

"Not just that, he hates his Level 0 self, since it's his quote unquote 'true psyche', and that only grew after his brain recovered and he remembered everything that happened on Asteroid M." Chelsea explained.

"Wait, I thought he couldn't remember anything when he switches personalities?" Logan asked as he scratched his head in confusion.

"Oh no, he can. What you're thinking of is Dual Personality Syndrome-Chuck told me what it was-But actually he's Bipolar, each of those seals? They just block off a specific amount of his true psyche in his Level 0 form, which is why they all seem somewhat similar. They're just smaller parts of a bigger whole." Chelsea explained. "And apparently? He hates that part of himself."

"Damn." Logan nodded as he opened another beer while she kept taking notes. "And how are his powers adjusting?"

"According to him, he's now as strong as he was in Level 3 at base, as strong as Level 2 at Level 3, as strong as Level 1 at Level 2, as strong as Level 0 (before the enhancement) at Level 1, and… Well we already know what he's like now at Level 0." The blonde listed while typing on a calculator Kitty loaned her.

"No kidding. I don't think we'll be forgetting that day anytime soon." Logan commented.

The woman sighed as she wrote down the last of her answers to the assignment. "Done, fuck me that was torture!" She groaned as she sat back, running her hand through her hair as her fingers shifted into claws, her scalp healing as soon as she scratched.

"If you hate mathematics now, then you're gonna learn to loathe the more advanced versions pretty quickly." The scraggly mutant said, causing Chelsea to slump in despair.

"Hooray for me…" she sighed as the man handed her another cold beer.

(Meanwhile)

Gavin was on his phone while having upside down from his room's chandelier. "Wait, so you're leaving for Japan tomorrow to start your investigation? What about school?" He asked the person on the other end.

"_I'll be dropping out since I'm going to be busy with the investigation. When it's all said and done, I'll resume it."_ Came the voice of Devin.

"You're sure about this? That's really risky." The pseudo vampire questioned.

"_I want to get rid of our mother's guilt and give her some peace of mind. I can't stand the thought of our father not resting peacefully." _Devin confessed.

"Are you sure you don't want my help? I mean he was my dad too." Gavin stated.

"_I'm sure. I need to do this alone. When I find out how it happened and who did it, I'll share it with you." _The metal controlling mutant replied. "_And the other reason is because I'll probably end up going really deep into the Japanese underground. You don't know the yakuza like I do, you could get hurt, or worse."_

"... As much as I want to refute that, you're right. I don't know the local yakuza like you do." The elder vampiric mutant admitted. "Just be careful, okay bro?"

"_I will." _Devin nodded before hanging up.

Gavin sighed as he dropped from the chandelier and walked out his room, on his way downstairs he bumped into Rogue.

"Oh, uh, h-hey Rogue." The boy said as he corrected himself after he almost bumped into her, her purple eyeshadow and lipstick nearly touching the respective areas on the boy's face.

"Hey, Gavin. What's up?" Rogue asked.

"Uh, not much. Just got finished talking to Devin, he told me that he's leaving for Japan tomorrow." Gavin told her while scratching the back of his neck, still blushing due to the close contact they just had.

"Why's he going back to Japan?" Rogue asked.

"He's investigating our father's death. He thinks it was staged and wants to find out who caused it." The bat owner of the institute replied.

"Isn't that dangerous?" The girl asked.

"That's what I told him, but he knows the local yakuza over there better than I do, so he'll make better progress. Doesn't mean I don't fear for his well being, though." Gavin replied as he looked down slightly at that last part.

Rogue smiled and she hugged his shoulders in a comforting manner as they walked. "You really are a great brother, ya know that?" The southern girl said.

"I've been trying to be since our grandparents tried to keep us divided. I want to make it clear that they failed." Gavin replied with a firm tone.

Rogue smiled at him as they went to the Rec room. "So, you wanna go out this week? We haven't been able to do that ever since you and Chelsea started training together." She asked.

"She's gonna be busy with her GED, so I think we'll have plenty of time for that… Unless she finds a way to balance it and the training sessions all at once." The resident horror expert said with that second part being an afterthought.

Rogue paused at Gavin's words. "Wait, she never got her diploma?" She asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I paused myself when I heard it, too." Gavin replied with a shrug.

"Makes me feel even worse that she got captured by HYDRA. She never got to see what her life would've been like if it never happened." Rogue sighed sadly.

"All the more reason to hate the sole remnant of the Nazi's dark existence." The pseudo vampire muttered darkly.

"Hey… Do you think she has, ya know, PTSD?" The southern belle asked in a whisper.

"Oh yeah. You don't spend the amount of time she did with HYDRA and _not_ get it. She seems to be good at hiding it, though." The institute's horror expert replied in his own whisper. That's when he had an epiphany. "Say, that's it!"

"What" Rogue asked.

"I know a way we can help Chelsea get over her PTSD: We get her into counseling." He told her. "I mean it's what I did when my powers overwhelmed my brain and caused me to go crazy, and look at how I turned out."

Rogue thought about it for a moment before coming up with an answer. "Alright, let's do this." She replied with a determined smile.

"No need *Achoo*!" A familiar voice said from the Rec room's doorway. Both turned and saw Chelsea standing there in the doorway, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed, a school binder in her hand.

"How long have you been standing there?" Gavin asked.

"Long enough." She said simply. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about me behind my back, Gav." She added.

"... Sorry." He replied as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Anyway, who exactly would you ask to give _me_ counseling?" The dragoness asked.

"Well I was thinking of asking my therapist, Emma Frost." The boy shrugged.

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea." Chelsea said, making Gavin frown in confusion.

"Why's that?" Gavin questioned.

"Like I said before: I've had bad experiences with telepaths." The woman told him. "And on top of that, I think it's completely shitty of you to think that I need counseling. I don't need anyone's help, especially not from a telepath I don't even know." She stated firmly.

"I'm just trying to help. And besides, I can vouch for Ms. Frost, I mean she really helped me get my head together and become who I am today." Gavin told her. "I mean, in the past I used to be an absolute dick because all you could see was my Level 0 self. And after Ms. Frost helped me, I really turned around."

"As true as that is, my answer is still no." The dragoness rebuked firmly. With that the woman left heading to her room.

"So that's it? Do you really want to keep having nightmares and flashbacks, always looking over your shoulder for trouble? Are you saying you don't even want to _try _and find peace?" The boy called at her as she left. Chelsea paused mid-step, but said nothing as she continued.

(Later that night)

Chelsea laid on her bed, enjoying a deep sleep, before she started tossing and turning, she was having another flashback, and this one was a wrecker.

-_Chelsea's mind-_

She was laying on an exam table, her body devoid of any cover other than a towel on her lower and upper halves, the cold air and metal of the table causing her skin to bump and tense up.

A bright light shined in her eyes, but she was unable to cover them because of the restraints that were on her arms, legs and neck. The scientist, Victor Rowner stood over her as he moved the light, then latched some sort of head device on her skull. After he was done attaching it, he went to the rest of his colleagues.

"We are ready to begin." Victor told them.

Chelsea gritted her teeth. "Rowner, what the fuck are you going to do to me?!" She growled, small puffs of fire puffing out of her mouth as she spoke.

"The first off many mental reprogramming procedures, Subject Tiamat, where your mind will be slowly redirected to one thing: Breeding." He said while leaning down to her ear. "You refuse to fight, so my superiors have ordered to 'repurpose' you."

The dragoness' eyes widened in alarm and fear before she began thrashing around, trying to escape her restraints.

The man simply put a mouth guard in her mouth as he gestured for his assistants to begin the process, which they did by pressing a few buttons. The machine came to life as the helmet-like device started sending electricity into her brain. The woman screamed through the mouth guard as she kept shaking from the shocks that kept attempting to rewrite her mind, her screams echoing through the lab and the halls.

-_Back in reality-_

Chelsea shot up in a cold sweat, clutching her head she breathed heavily from what just happened.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!" She growled angrily. "Even though I got out before they could even get going with that shit, it's _still _affecting me?!"

The woman laid on her bed as she thought back to what Gavin had said. "Stupid kid, of course I wanna find peace… I just don't want to go through something like that again with a telepath at the wheel." She then turned over to her side as she continued to try and fall asleep. "Maybe I should ask Logan or Chuck on what I should do, those guys seem to get where I'm coming from at least." She sighed as she slowly fell asleep.

**And just so you know readers, these original chapters will each be taking place in between each episode of the series from now on, just thought I'd say that.**

**-Dragon Emperor0 **


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Growing up is hard to do.**

It had been about half a month since Gavin had spoken to Chelsea about possibly going to counseling for her PTSD, and now she laid in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Another night full of night terrors of her past, and very little sleep. She rubbed her eyes with a groan, looking at the clock. 6 am. Not the best time to wake up on a Sunday.

"Damn it..." she sighed. The kid was... possibly right. She couldn't keep living like this. Waking up in night sweats jolted out of sleep from a memory. Or worse, when her memories would take over while awake.

"The Vamp may have been on to something." The dragoness whispered to herself as she got out of bed, throwing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

As she walked down the hall, she was surprised to see Gavin trudging tiredly towards her. "Uh, Gav?"

"Oh, hey Marks." He waved sleepily, letting out a yawn. "Just heading to bed."

"Kid, it's 6 in the morning." She scoffed.

"It's a Sunday. Lemme be nocturnal." He groggily said, walking past her down the hall. "I'll see you tomorrow..."

"Riiight..." She drawled, shaking her head with a smile. The kid had grown on her, that's for sure. He could be cocky, and too stubborn for his own good, but he had a good heart. Maybe the reason she was able to connect with him so easily was that he reminded her of herself. "Remember, training on Monday before school." She called out to him, getting a limp thumbs up in response.

She walked down to the kitchen, heating up the coffee pot once she was there and waited for it to brew. 'I need to get my PTSD under control..' she thought to herself, staring off into space as she recalled the nightmare that plagued her.

"You're up early." She turned, seeing Logan in the doorway with a newspaper.

"I could say the same about you." Retorted Chelsea.

"You could. But, it's my routine to get down here before all the kids decide to raid the kitchen." He pointed out as he sat in the windowsill, unfolding his paper.

"Maybe I should join you more often." She mumbled, turning back to the coffee pot as the steaming liquid began to pour in. 'why can't I get this out of my head? What will happen if... if..'

"Chels?" Logan asked.

"hm?" Hummed the woman.

"What's going on? You're acting off." The man noted.

She turned to him, glaring. "What? Just because I'm down here early something must be wrong?"

"I can smell it, Scales." He said seriously looking up from his paper. "Somethings worrying you."

"It's uh... It's my PTSD..." She admitted quietly.

"Tell me about it." He folded his paper, getting up to pour two cups of coffee.

"Logan I'd rather not-" the woman attempted to protest.

"Chels..." He persisted, extending one of the cups to her. "Tell me. I've been through shit like you. If anyone is going to know what it's like, it's me.

She cautiously looked at him, taking the coffee. "My nightmares have been getting worse... More persistent, more detailed. I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in over a week. And..." she tapped her mug, contemplating continuing.

"And?" The clawed man persisted, his voice softer than usual.

"And I've started to have flashbacks when I'm awake as well. Certain things will trigger them and then I'm suddenly back in the labs or on the run." She looked at him, eyes full of concern. "I'm afraid that if they get too vivid... I could start to lash out, reacting like I'm actually IN those situations again."

Logan looked at her, deep in thought for a minute. "Has it happened before?"

"No, but it can happen with PTSD."

"I know. I've gone through it..." He admitted, taking a sip of his coffee. "Remember when we met on Mt. McKenna?"

"How could I forget." Her cocky tone shone through for a moment.

"Reason I went there was because what happened to me started to float back up to the surface." His eyes met hers, intently holding her gaze. "And believe me, what was going through my head wasn't pretty..."

Logan then deployed his claws on his free hand to emphasize his point.

"Yikes." Chelsea winced. "... yeah, my Flashbacks are kinda like that. It usually involves a guy named Victor Rowner, a real sick piece of work who was usually the cause of most of my trauma."

"What did he do?" Logan asked, while trying to suppress his slight spike of anger.

"Well, He had this habit of showing me unnecessary "favoritism" in the form of unwanted sexual advancements. And being the egomaniac, narcissist he is, did not hold back from abusing his power over his subjects, especially me. He was a total pervert towards me due to how much I apparently reminded him of his ex-wife." She explained. "That paired with how he would single me out for exclusive torture, use my friends against me, and how he tried to turn me into a sex crazed breeding bitch, lead to me despising him even more than most agents of HYDRA."

"Did he do anything else to make ya lash out?" Logan asked.

"Yeah. He manipulated my instincts to force me to eat a kid alive." She nodded.

"Did what?!" Logan nearly spat out his coffee.

"Okay, maybe not EAT." She blushed in embarrassment. "But, might as well have... The poor kid was my first kill. It wasn't my choice though Rowner forced me into a session with his little PET at the time to prep me for the fight, forcing me into an uncontrolled rage before the fight. By the time I was done with the other mutant I had consumed enough blood and torn enough flesh that... well you get the point."

"What do you mean by, pet?" Logan growled.

"Telepath. A little shit named Kuo. Chinese kid, taken in when he was a toddler. HYDRA was all he knew, but that doesn't excuse the fact he was a little torturing drone." She sipped her coffee, frowning, scales fluttering over her skin as anger began to grow. "This, CREATURE got a kick out of fuck with minds. Created illusions to drive people mad, controlling others actions, forcing them to do things against their will."

"Hence the fear of telepaths." Logan said aloud.

"Exactly." The blonde nodded.

"So is that why you don't want to take Gavin's offer for counseling with his therapist, Frost?" Logan asked.

"Pretty much." The Dragoness nodded.

"Then what's with the change of mind?" The man questioned.

"Because I'm not sure I have much of a choice now, if I don't do something about this, I could end up going insane and hurt someone else, and... I don't want that!" The blonde said before small trails of tears started to trickle ever so slightly out of her eyes.

"Well, if you're still not sure about doing it with Frost alone, maybe you could have Gavin go with you to make sure she doesn't pull anything?" Logan suggested.

"Maybe. I mean it's worth a shot." Chelsea shrugged. "But, I just, I really don't know what I should do. Do I get the memories erased? Altered? Suppressed? I don't know."

"That's not my wheelhouse." Logan shrugged. "I'd talk to Chuck if I were you Chels, he may have an idea."

"Yeah, 'the world's greatest telepath' better have an answer." She scoffed, wiping her tears away quickly. "He helped you, didn't he?"

"As much as he could." Logan gave her a small smile, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Go see what he says. You can trust him. He cares about you as much as everyone else in the Institute."

"Even you, with as much as an ass you can be?" She said coyly.

He smirked at her. "Yes. Now if you don't drink that coffee, I will."

Later that morning, after the kids flooded the kitchen Chelsea quietly left the commotion to go to Charles's office. "Come in Chelsea." the voice behind the door said before she knocked, making her shiver.

"I'm never going to get over that..." She said to herself as she walked in. "Hey, Charles, can we talk?"

"But of course." The man nodded as he gestured for her to sit down.

As the blonde sat down she faced the man as he looked at her expectantly. "Logan mentioned you wished to talk, from the tone he used it seemed rather dire. What is it that's on your mind?" Xavier asked.

"It's my PTSD flashbacks, their getting more frequent, more vivid, I'm afraid that if I don't do something about it soon I could end up hurting someone if I relive them. Or worse." Chelsea explained. "So I'm thinking of... going to counseling, more specifically with Gavin's therapist, ya know the sexy telepath?"

"Yes Miss Frost, I'm aware." Xavier nodded. "But I thought you weren't comfortable with telepaths?"

"I don't exactly have much of a choice, now do I?" The woman sighed as she sat back in the chair she was in. "So I came here to see if you'd check my traumatic memories and try to see just how much work needs to be done. I mean should I have them altered, suppressed or erased? So I need you to go into my head for me, okay?"

Xavier nodded. "Very well then."

"Charles, before we start to promise me one thing." He gave her a nod. "Dont let anybody else know what you'll see."

Charles nodded, gently placed his hands on her temples taking a breath before diving in. He saw moments pass from the past few weeks from Chelsea's point of view. Time spent training with Gavin, Ororo giving her pointers on methods that worked for each student, time spent drinking with Logan. More memories, from when she was on the run. The scenes began to speed up until they stopped, the scene focusing into the scene of a laboratory.

Chelsea was strapped to a table, a leather strap in her mouth as she screamed as HYDRA doctors directed her open abdomen. The scene changed and Charles saw her covered in blood, shaking as she stared at a lifeless body. Once again it changed, and he saw her fighting other mutants while trying to plead with them, pain ringing in her voice. He saw her trapped in a cell, alone and shivering in the cold, hearing howls groans around her.

He saw her strapped to a table, vertically strung up as an older man with black greasy hair and grey eyes looked at her sadistically, pulling her hair back with one hand and cupping her face with the other. "You aren't going to fight me this time, are you my dear?" Her breath shook with fear as she tried to turn away but couldn't.

He pushed further into her memories, past more pain, anguish, and anxiety, through more trauma he could have never expected.

Another scene with the man with grey eyes unfolded. The doctor looked at her, adjusting a contraption above her holding multiple needles. "If you refuse to fight the others, Chelsea..." He sneered, glaring down at her.

"Rowner-Rowner please no." She managed to say between sobs.

"You'll have to be repurposed. And lucky for you, your healing factor makes you a perfect candidate for this project. Welcome to the breeding program, my dear." Fear erupted like fire in her mind as the needles came down on her skin, pain shooting through her body.

Charles halted at a scene in which he saw her strapped to a chair, incapable of moving. Across from her, an Asian boy her age stared at her intently, his face void of emotion.

"You don't have to do this." Chelsea muttered her tone exhausted.

'What am I doing? What are you doing? Is this even real?" A voice, not her own, said in her head. 'You're pathetic soul can't even comprehend what is real any more.' And with that, the ground fell out from under her, as she fell into complete darkness. 'You are not in control. I am. And you will serve us.'

Charles reeled back to reality, fear he absorbed while in her mind creeping up his chest.

Chelsea looked up at him, her eyes full of concern, yet looking tired. "Prof?"

"This... is more extensive then I thought." The man said, hands rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Though now that I know what your trauma truly is caused by, I think I can finally give you a suggestion for your course of action."

"And?" Chelsea asked.

"I'd suggest a selective memory wipe, several alterations, a mental purge of any lingering 'programming' and lastly a suppression of any memories or triggers that could cause these to reappear." Charles explained.

"So in other words, the whole nine yards?" Chelsea clarified.

"Unfortunately, Yes." Charles nodded. "Of course I could also offer you a mental block on your instincts if you'd like as an extra precaution to be safe, if you're willing."

"I mean if I'm gonna do all that, I might as well." The blonde shrugged. "Think you can get the blonde bimbo to schedule me an appointment?"

"I'll make a call today." The man told her.

"Great." The dragoness sighed. '_At least I won't have to keep waiting.'_ She thought as she got up and left the office.

(The next day)

The next day everyone was at the Bayville High soccer fields where Jean was playing the last team they had to play to get to the finals. Everyone was cheering her on, except for Gavin who was currently asleep in the bleachers next to Rogue, his head laying on her shoulder.

"Why did Gavin come if he was just going to fall asleep?" Kurt couldn't help but ask.

"Tell me about it." The southern girl replied with a shrug.

"Hey man, cut him some slack. The guy's been run ragged ever since he had to do those training sessions with Chels." Evan defended the boy, he knew this because he would be called in to help on occasion.

Everyone couldn't help but shudder. They knew how into it the blonde dragoness could get, so they were definitely able to sympathize with the pseudo vampire.

Speaking of the dragoness, she had just gotten back from the concession stands with a couple of drinks in both hands, apparently the staff at Bayville High were selling beer to those over twenty one. The woman sat next to Logan, who had also decided to come to the game, and handed him a solo cup of beer.

"Achoo!" Chelsea sneezed as she wiped her nose.

"You okay?" Logan asked as he took a sip of his beer.

"Yeah, must be my allergies… Either that, or someone's talking about me." She shrugged, drinking from her own cup.

Right at that moment, Jean just received the ball and she was running and weaving her way through the other team like a pro, and then with one decisive kick she scored the winning goal.

Everyone cheered as they all jumped up, this action caused Gavin to abruptly wake up and fall out of his seat onto the ground below. Though any injuries he may have suffered healed themselves in a matter of seconds. However that didn't stop his clothes from being covered in dirt.

"Okay, NOW I'm irritated." He grumbled.

Later that day, Kitty and Kurt got a ride home from Scott, while Rogue rode home with Gavin in his car, but before the two did so, however, the half Japanese boy made a quick stop at Forge's house.

As the boy got out of the car he pulled out a long cardboard tube usually used for blueprints and then looked at Rogue.

"I'll be back in a second." He told her as he went to Forge's door. Gavin knocked on the door and a few seconds later, Forge answered.

"Oh, hey Gavin. Need something built?" He asked. Forge had come a long way since he got out of the Middle Verse and got himself caught up with the times. Right now, he was doing jobs for certain people that needed a reliable way of getting things built. He was currently dressed in a jet-black shirt, a pair of blue jeans and some brown shoes.

"Yeah, I got the blue prints right here." Gavin nodded as he handed him the tube. "How long do you think it'll take?"

"Depending on if I can get the necessary materials, I'd say a week or two at most." The man shrugged as he glanced over the designs before whistling. "Wow. And you want _two_ of these things?"

"Yup. I noticed that I'm lacking in the ranged department, so I need a way of fighting from a distance. Bloodfallen can only do so much." The young horror fan explained.

"Any special engravings?" Forge questioned.

"The Devil's Ruin' and 'The Devil's Scorn'." Gavin told him. Forge wrote them down on a notepad and nodded in affirmative.

"Alright, I'll give you a call when they're done." Forge said, getting a nod from Gavin before he went back to his car.

(Elsewhere, a little Later)

At the Institute, the New Mutants were all hanging out, and Bobby had just started a conversation with the others about their first training session.

"You remember when Gavin made his first impression with us during our first training session?" Bobby asked.

"Kinda hard to forget." Jubilee nodded as they thought back to it.

_-Flashback-_

The New Mutants, as well as Chelsea and Logan were in the danger room about to start the New Mutants's first training exercise, which the Professor would be residing over. All the kids were standing around waiting for things to start. Chelsea then turned to her scraggly companion.

"Where are Scott and Jean? I thought they would be here already." The woman asked.

Logan shrugged before he spoke into his communication device. "Hey Chuck, where're Scott and Jean?"

"They should be here any-" Charles was saying before he was interrupted by Gavin appearing out of nowhere by coming right through the wall of the training room while in his costume.

"Hey kids, wanna see a dead body?!" The boy asked as he appeared in front of them, causing all the kids to scream, and little Jamie to faint.

"STOP SCREAMING!" The blond dragoness yelled at the still screaming children, who did as ordered… Though they did whimper a little.

Scott and Jean then entered soon after. "Sorry Professor, we tried to stop him." Scott told the man.

"But when I pleaded with him, he merely responded with and (please excuse my French) 'Fuck the police'. He then proceeded to turn every painting on his way here." Jean added.

"Oh god..." Chelsea groaned as Gavin simply started chuckling. "Now when I'm walking down the hall I'm gonna have a headache."

-_Flashback End-_

"Still can't believe that he was stuck in a different personality at the time." Amara shuddered. "I can't imagine what that's like."

"No kidding." Tabitha nodded. "Though let's be honest, him being basically a vampire is pretty sexy, am I right girls?" The girls all simply blushed in embarrassment.

Inside the Institute, Xavier and Logan were watching all the kids as they started playing around.

"The new generation is certainly a lively bunch, isn't it?" The headmaster asked.

"Yeah, a bit _too _lively if you ask me." Logan said as a huge ball of lava flew past the window and caused the yard to explode. "We're definitely gonna need some extra barriers, and maybe a few bomb shelters."

"Agreed." Came the Professor's reply.

Ororo chose that moment to walk in. "Charles, I think there's something you should take a look at." She said as she turned on a monitor.

What was shown was a news report where a car that was about to fall on a bus was deflected by a red laser.

"Scott." Charles stated, knowing exactly what the source was.

Scott and the others drove up slowly, while Gavin straight up pulled a Tokyo drift and skid into the Institute's Driveway.

Rogue slowly stumbled out of the car. "What was that about?!" She snapped.

"Sorry, I remembered that I gotta call Miss Frost and ask if she'd be willing to come back here tomorrow." The boy told her. "Professor X said he couldn't get her at her office, so I'm gonna try her cell."

'_Still don't know why that happened, it's so unlike her.'_ The boy thought to himself.

The two looked at Scott the others. "What's up with you guys?" Rogue asked.

"Beats me." Gavin replied with a shrug.

As all of them walked inside, Xavier rolled up to them. Kitty seemed really nervous. "Oh boy…" she said.

(Later)

Gavin dialed the number of Emma Frost's cell and waited for an answer. As soon as he heard the click, he knew she answered. "Ms. Frost?" The boy asked.

"_Gavin, your next appointment isn't for a good while. Why are you calling me now?"_ The platinum blonde asked.

"The professor said he was trying to call your office, but couldn't get you. Is there a reason for that?" Gavin asked. "He wants to set up an appointment for one of our instructors."

"_What? Why?" _Emma asked with a surprised voice.

"Because her PTSD is getting out of control. She's not too fond of telepaths due to past experience, but she's willing to at least give you a chance." Gavin explained.

"_Alright_… _When would you like to schedule the appointment?_" Emma asked.

"Hang on." The boy said before he went to the Rec Room where Chelsea was sitting and watching TV. "Hey Chels, when do you want your appointment with Ms. Frost to be?"

"Well I don't have anything planned on Thursday." The woman called back.

"Thanks." He replied before turning his attention back to his phone. "Is Thursday fine?" He asked Emma.

"_Let me check… Hmmm, I do have an appointment with my partner Mr. Shaw that day, but I'm sure I can reschedule… How does six thirty sound?"_ The blonde asked.

"A.M. or P.M.?" Gavin asked, wanting specifics.

"_Well if I still want to meet with Shaw… It would have to be A.M._" Emma told him.

"Alright. I'll let her know." Gavin replied. He was about to hang up when Emma spoke up once more.

"_Wait, you never gave me the name of the one who needs my help." _She stated.

"Oh, her name is Chelsea Marks. I think you may or may not have spoken with her briefly when my seals were failing." The pseudo vampire replied.

"_Oh yes, I remember her." _The psychiatrist nodded.

"Great. Hey Chels, is Six thirty A.M. okay?" Gavin called to the dragoness as he covered the mouth piece of his phone.

"Yeah, it should be fine." Chelsea called back.

"Alright." Gavin nodded. "She said it's fine." He told Frost.

"_Alright. I'll be there tomorrow." _Frost told him as they hung up.

Gavin sighed as he was finally done. Walking over to the couch and slid down on it in his usual upside down position. "So, whatcha watching?" Gavin asked casually.

(The next day)

In the Bayville High gym, everyone was waiting for the assembly to start. And Rogue was walking in when she saw a new girl sitting on the bleachers.

"Hey, you go here right?" The girl asked in a British accent. She seemed to be of Japanese descent like Gavin, and had her hair dyed purple.

"Yeah, I'm Rogue, what's your name?" Rogue asked.

"I'm Ristie." She introduced herself.

Gavin, meanwhile, entered and saw Rogue sitting with Ristie. Not wanting to impede on his southern friend's progress with making new friends, he went over and sat next to Kurt and the others. Everyone kept staring at him though, ever since Asteroid M he had actually started to let his hair grow out. He didn't know why, but he suddenly found himself liking the idea of having long hair.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" He wondered aloud to Kurt. '_It's honestly creeping me out, which never happens.'_

"Vey probably just aren't used to za vay you look yet." Kurt shrugged.

Gavin shrugged as the school's new principal, Edward Kelly, took the stage. Immediately the boy felt sick to his stomach when he saw the man. '_I don't know why, but for some reason I really don't like the look of this guy.' _He thought to himself.

As the new principal began speaking, Lance decided to try and go flirt with Kitty. After Mystique's disappearance and Devin's subsequent departure back to Japan, the Brotherhood just seemed to be feeling like life was mundane, lacking focus. So the group's de facto leader decided to focus on the one thing he actually cared about sticking around for: Kitty Pryde.

"Hey, Kitty." The boy said sheepishly.

"What do you want, Lance?" The ghost-themed girl grumbled.

"Just wanted to show you something, watch." He said before he clenched his fist and started to make tremors.

Everyone started panicking at the sudden 'earthquake' as everyone who wasn't sitting down already tried to keep their footing.

The boy stopped and then smirked. "Hey Kitty, wanna see some real shaking?" He grinned as he then started even more shaking, only this time _worse_. Up on the ceiling, the cable holding the scoreboard started to fall apart before it finally snapped and the large game board fell with the new principal right underneath it. Acting fast, Jean discreetly used her powers to divert it away from him.

Gavin slowly got back into his seat after being wedged into the spaces in between the bleachers and glared down at Lance, his fangs nearly drawing blood as he bit the inside of his mouth.

'_One of these days, Lance. ONE of these days, I'm gonna __**kill **__you!'_ The angry vampire themed mutant thought as he glared daggers at the tremor generating boy.

'_You will not!' _Jean thought up at him as she glared at him.

'_Shut up, Jean!'_ Gavin thought back. '_And stay out of my head!' _He added while slamming a large mental barrier in her face. Jean recoiled slightly in surprise from the sudden mental block. She looked at Gavin suspiciously before turning her attention back to the new principal.

(Elsewhere, later that day)

Lance and the other Brotherhood were at their place and the boy was fuming. "First that asshole Devin leaves us because he thinks he has better things to do, and now the X-men think they're better than us." Lance growled.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Pietro asked.

"I say we go public with our powers." Lance told him.

"But Mystique said-" Toad tried to protest.

"Forget Mystique! She's gone, and so is Magneto! I say we take our new principal's words into consideration." The living quake generator said with a smirk.

(That Thursday)

Emma Frost arrived at the Institute and at designated time and knocked on the door, a few seconds later the door was answered by Chelsea.

"Hello Miss Marks, I didn't expect to see you. Are you ready to get started?" The platinum blonde asked her.

"I'm a little skittish about this, but I don't have much of a choice right now. And just to warn you in advance, you won't like what you find in my head." The dragoness said before issuing a forewarning.

"Sweetheart, I'm the therapist to some of the most mentally damaged mutants on the planet. I think I can handle you." The woman told her.

"... Alright. Come on, we can get this done in my room." Chelsea sighed before gesturing for Emma to follow her. As they entered the two women sat down.

"Now, I'll be erasing around half of your memories of HYDRA, or at least attempting to. I'll also be removing or at least altering any programming they may have implanted, and suppressing the rest that can't be erased so deep into your mind, they will merge with your feral instincts." Emma explained.

"Got it." The silently distressed dragoness replied as she laid down on her bed. "Okay, go ahead." Chelsea told the platinum blonde telepath.

Emma put her hands on Chelsea's head as she dove into her mind, finding every memory she could about HYDRA and then started erasing them. One after another, they all started disappearing. Once about half were gone, all that was left was relatively minor ones, the few good, and the ones that completely resonated with her primal instincts. Then she sifted through her head for any programming, finding two: 'You are not a person, you are a thing, a weapon. You are to obey and die for HYDRA' and 'Your only function is to breed. You will find a mate and for the rest of your life, you will breed and never stop.'

Finding both programs (understandably) repulsive, the blonde discarded the first one and then decided to alter the last one: 'You have a natural need to breed, but you will only do so when you find someone who is willing to help you. You are the only who can choose who to be with, no one else. You have your own will, you are your own woman. Embrace that.'

Feeling satisfied with her work, she pulled out of Chelsea's mind. As she waited for the blonde on the bed to wake up, Emma went over what she found in her head. She knew that it was going to be bad, but a part of her wasn't expecting it to be to _this _extent!

'_If Gavin ever finds out what she went through, he will be out for blood.'_ She thought, knowing that he would hunt down HYDRA to the ends of the Earth because: A. They hurt his older sister figure. B. They were still a group created by the Nazis back in the day. And C. He was not one to let go of a grudge.

"How do you feel, Miss Marks?" The telepath dragoness slowly came to before she slowly started getting a grin on her face.

"I… Feel… I feel great!" The woman said she could feel the stress from all those memories slowly start to melt away. "I mean shit, I wasn't all that sure about all this, but now? I kinda wish I went to you sooner." But then she felt something come into her mind.

"Wait… Why do I get the feeling that I'm missing something. Is that because of the memory wipe?" She asked Emma.

"Most likely, the fragmentation should disappear after a couple days, so in the meantime I suggest relaxing to allow your brain to catch up." The telepath told her. "Also." She then handed her a slip of paper. "Here's a prescription for hormone managing medication, that way you don't try and throw yourself at the guy you like on the first date."

"Shut up, Frost!" Chelsea squaked in embarrassment, causing Emma to chuckle a bit.

(Friday night a week later)

Everyone was at the game that night and was waiting for it to get started. But as Principal Kelly started giving a pre game speech, he was interrupted by a wave of tremors. Gavin was absent during this event.

"Oh not again!" Scott said as he and the others tried to keep their footing. That was when they saw the Brotherhood standing atop the scoreboard.

"Students and nimrods of Bayville High, my name is Lance Alvers, but you can call me Avalanche, and I am a mutant!" Lance said into the microphone that Toad swiped for him.

Everyone looked at him in shock, all non X-men bystanders not understanding what was going on. What was he talking about? They wondered.

"And I'm not the only one, Scott Summers, he's a mutant. Jean Grey, Evan Daniels, Kitty Pryde, Kurt Wagner. They're all mutants." Avalanche continued. "We have powers that would make you quake in your boots, and trust me, I mean it!" He added as he started causing more tremors.

"Cat's out of the bag, Professor." Scott said as he got up.

"So it would seem." The man nodded.

As everything started shaking, everything stopped when music started to play and Lance looked up seeing Gavin standing at the top of a news van in his costume as 'Better get ready to die' started to play.

The pseudo vampire reached into his coat and then his hands pulled out two huge pistols and twirled them before pointing them at the Brotherhood. The guns themselves were in a sidearm style and were black in color with silver and red accents and a cryptech pattern at the back of the slide and had a second silver barrel fused to the bottom of the primary barrel. Lastly they had the names 'Devil's Ruin' and 'Devil's Scorn' on the barrels of the gun in his left and right hand respectively.

"Well well well, I leave for a few minutes and the Brotherhood decides to run around like a headless chicken, if this little performance is anything to go by." Gavin mused with a chuckle.

"Since when did he have guns?!" Toad croaked as he jumped back.

"I dunno, but facing him feels like a bad idea now." Blob said nervously.

"Pfft, I can outrun bullets no problem." Quicksilver scoffed dismissively. Gavin just smirked as he jumped down and then started firing. Luckily for the Brotherhood, he specifically had Forge make the guns shoot energy bullets that could either be lethal or just set to stun.

Blob decided to get in between the team and the bullets and roared in pain as the gun's rounds started to bring him down. After taking ten more stun shots, he collapsed into unconsciousness.

Gavin unloaded the mags and then loaded another two and slammed the two guns together to lock them into place. "Alright dirt bags, give up?" He asked.

"Never!" Lance shouted in defiance.

"Have it your way." He shrugged as he engaged his guns' second function: their laser function.

Gavin held down the triggers and let the laser charge up to 100% before he released them, letting the lasers shoot out. One of them hit Lance and it was discovered that they were so fast that Pietro actually got hit by one of the beams. Toad was the only one left standing, but he didn't seem interested in trying anything if him cowering in fear was anything to go by.

Gavin held the smoking barrels to his nose as he breathed in the fumes. "OH! I am _very _turned on right now." He grinned as he holstered his guns. Which was around the time Lance started to get back up.

"You think you've won?! You think this is over?!" He asked as he struggled to get back on his feet.

Gavin simply drew his sword as the rest of the Brotherhood got up. "Not really, however… Guys? A little assistance please? I'm out of ammo here!" He called.

The rest of the X-Men rushed to his side in their costumes, ready to fight. They were legitimately surprised that Gavin had a pair of guns now, even more so that they had a stun mode on them.

"And before you ask: Yes they don't use real bullets. Honestly, whaddya take me for? A killer?" Gavin asked rhetorically as both groups faced off.

"At least you put a large amount of forethought into their design." Jean pitched in.

"Alright, let's deal with these guys!" Even exclaimed as he charged at the Brotherhood, the rest of the X-Men following suit.

The fight ensued and everyone kept trying to make sure that no one got hurt, and right around this time, Chelsea, Logan and Emma (who had come to do a weekly check up with the Dragoness) arrived at the scene.

"Professor Xavier, what's happening?" Emma questioned the man as Blob hurled the Bayville hawk statue at Jean and Scott.

"Lance has announced that mutants exist live on camera. We have a lot of damage control to do." The Professor explained.

"No need to worry about the camera. I just finished messing it up and destroyed the footage." Kitty said as she ran up to them.

"As for everyone's memories, I will assist you." Emma told him.

'_Me too.' _Jean added as she kicked Toad into the bleachers.

As soon as the fight was over, the Brotherhood left, and now it was time to do damage control. The three telepaths then started crowd control as Xavier and Jean started erasing memories while Emma did altering.

Everyone's minds all started to change, but as soon as it reached Kelly, Xavier gave out, leaving it to Jean and Emma. They tried to alter his memories, but they were kept out by mental blocks that were too strong to be a normal human's, though they were able to at least make slight alterations.

After this everyone left, all feeling drained after what just occurred. Except for Gavin who stayed behind and cornered Kelly in an alley and sunk his fangs into the man before he could react.

As he drained him, he immediately syphoned the memories of what happened out of his mind and left the man leaning against the school dumpster, unconscious.

"Sorry Principal Kelly, it's nothing personal, just gotta keep things under wraps." The boy said as he left while pulling the brim of his hat down, coat flapping in the wind.

(Elsewhere)

_-New York City, Brooklyn-_

Bast was standing in front of her boss at the shelter she worked at, a grave look all over her face.

"I'm sorry I have to leave so suddenly sir, but you see my-" she tried to explain.

"Abuser found you?" The man said. The woman nodded. "Say no more Fatima, I understand. Do you have a place to go?"

"Yeah… I know a place in Bayville." Bast nodded.

The man nodded as he slid a check over the table between them to her. "Here, use this." He told her.

The woman looked at the check in surprise. "Are you…. Are you sure?" She asked in shock.

"Yes." He nodded. "You've been a great help so I'm going to pay it forward. Now go, hurry."

Bast nodded. "Thank you." She said as she turned and left.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: Full Metal Yakuza **

Italics: speaking in another language.

_-Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan.-_

Devin had just gotten off his flight after 5 hours of murdering his legs, and decided to take a moment to stretch his muscles. Once that was over, he decided to make his way towards his first destination.

'_Now that I'm here, it's time to get to work.' _The boy said as he started walking through the streets of Tokyo, his first stop on his investigation was going to be the restaurant that his parents went to on the day of his father's death.

The restaurant was a high class Japanese bar that was actually part of a ring that was ruled over by the Yashida crime family. As the boy walked in he was soon sat down by one of the hostesses. As he sat and tried to figure out what he wanted, he noticed that two men were watching him out of the corner of his eye.

Both men were wearing suits and ties, the one on the right had a crew cut and had a razor scar going across his face, while the one on the left was covering one of his hands, which Devin noticed was missing a finger.

'_They must be enforcers from the Yashida family. What good fortune.' _Devin thought as he looked at the men, taking a sip of the drink his waitress gave him and intentionally caused his skin to ripple into silver for a second to try and get them to make a move.

This seemed to work as the men slowly started walking towards him. "And so it begins…" The boy whispered as the men sat down at the chairs opposite him at the table.

"_What is your business here?" _The one with the scar asked.

"_Who are you?_" Asked the man with the missing finger.

Devin ignored them for a second, at least until the first man opened his sport coat and pointed to a gun he had in a harness holster on his right side. As if to say, 'answer or die'. Devin just snorted at the gesture as if it meant nothing to him.

"_I am Full Metal, disciple of the Silver Samurai." _He then pointed a finger at the man and made it become a metal needle and made it stretch and stop just a millimeter from the man's face. "_And I am here to find the man who killed my father."_

"_And you decided to come here because…?" _The Scarfaced One asked with a raised eyebrow.

"_This was where my parents were before the accident." _The boy then leaned forward and looked at the men, rather fiercely. "_Now, are there any people in the Yashida crime syndicate that drives a white Yoshimura Suzuki GSX250?_" He asked the two men as his skin ripped metallic for a minute.

(About an hour later.)

Devin slowly walked out of the alley next to the restaurant as he cleaned his hands. "*sigh* Still nothing, guess I'll have to cross the Yashida's off the list. No one has the motorcycle I'm looking for." The boy said as he started walking down the streets. "Guess the next is the Yamahara family." He shrugged.

Though as he walked away from the alley, inside it, the two men from earlier laid there against the walls, dead, their blood streaking down the walls of the two buildings and soaking into their clothes.

The next stop of his investigation was a high school that secretly trained the enforcers of the Yamahara family and was one of their biggest centers of drug manufacturing.

The boy rolled his eyes as he turned himself into his liquid metal state, then entered under the door. As he quickly jumped around he eventually saw one of the guards of the school, who was obviously an enforcer since he had a gun on him.

The boy walked up behind the man and using his ignorance against him, Devin stabbed his now metal arm through the man's back, snapping basically vital bodily instruments and killing him instantly. Setting the man down and shoving him into a broom cabinet, he then started to use his powers to shapeshift into the man's likeness and took his name card.

The next thing he did was start heading down stairs, which he knew from past experiences was where most of the higher ups in the family met in secret so they could keep an eye on the drugs.

The basement of the school was indeed the spitting image of a meth lab in the movies. Girls from the school were forced to wear masks and gloves but basically only wear their underwear so that they wouldn't steal the products as they mixed the needed chemicals.

This sight honestly disgusted the boy, especially since the enforcers of the family watched the girls with lustful eyes. The boy shook his head, he couldn't get distracted, he had work to do. Turning the corner he entered a room where four men and four women dressed in suits or work clothes sat at a large table. These were the bosses of the Yamahara crime syndicate.

The man at the head of the table, Tanjiro Yamahara, an elderly man with slicked back gray hair and various dark spots on his prunish skin, looked at Devin discernibly. "_Senji! What are you doing away from your post?!" _He barked.

Devin grinned and he slowly shifted back to normal and then turned himself into metal and pinned the old man to the wall by stretching his arm to an incredible length and gripping the man's neck by turning his hand into a vice.

Everyone at the table got up in shock, drawing their weapons. "_Don't even think about it." _Devin growled as he tightened his grip. "_Unless you want to see your leader die, I suggest you stand down and answer my questions._"

Yuma Yamahara, the youngest of the Yamahara heirs, was the first to speak up. "_Just who are you?" _He questioned.

"_You don't need to know."_ The metal mutant shot back coldly. "_Now, tell me, are there any members of the Yamahara family that drive this motorcycle?" _The boy asked, holding up the picture of the motorcycle in question. He then let go of Tanjiro as the group had seemingly calmed down and took a seat.

"_Now I recognize you." _Tanjiro noted, rubbing his neck. "_You are Devin Shirakumo, the Half-breed bastard son of Seiji Shirakumo's son." _The man said with clear distaste in his voice when he said 'half breed'. "_I'm sorry to say no one in our ranks has a motorcycle like that."_

Devin glared at the man as he clenched his fists. "_Then do you know anyone who might?" _He asked.

"_To be quite frank, there's only one crime family who would have a motorcycle like that for one of their members." _Saito Yamahara, the eldest male son of the family said in agitation. "_And that is the Hamada family and their street racing circuit."_

"_Then I guess that's exactly where I need to go._" Devin sighed angrily before glaring at Tanjiro. "_Oh and if you ever call me a mongrel again, you'll regret it, greatly._" He growled while turning his arm into a chainsaw.

The boy left the school and then continued to start asking around the city for more information about the Hamada crime family and their racing circuit. Once he found one of their meet up places, he learned that the person he was looking for was Tenya Obiwara, he was a regular racer who had a rep for doing odd jobs for the many crime families, and was actually the guy who was involved in the accident that killed Devin's dad.

'_I'll need to bust a few stops if I want to get any information out of him.'_ The living Terminator thought as he walked.

As the boy made his way to the location of the latest race, he was suddenly stopped as the walkway was suddenly filled with a strong wind and then a bright light. This caused the liquid metal user to cover his eyes and the flash grew brighter and larger. As the light subsided, in the It's place stood a tall man dressed in the armor of a traditional Samurai, but his armor was all metal and was silver in color, with a red gem in the center of the forehead of his kabuto.

The man stood before Devin with a stern look on the visible lower half of his face, given that the top half was covered by a silver mask. The man stood in a readied combat stance, his hand poised around the handle of the Katana that rested at the right side of his waist.

"_Devin Shirakumo, it has been quite awhile since we've seen each other hasn't it?" _The man said in a deep voice.

"_Shingen Harada." _Devin said in reply, bowing respectfully. "_It has indeed been awhile, sensei."_

"_Tell me, what brings you back to your homeland?" _The metallic samurai inquired.

"_Let's just say I'm here to settle some… Old grudges."_ The boy stated vaguely.

Harada nodded. "_Well then, student." _The man said while walking up to him. "_I don't suppose there's any way I could help you resolve this, peacefully?"_

**And here it is people, the first in a 4 part arc involving exclusively Devin in his search for his father's supposed killer, this arc will be referred to as the Full Metal: Origin arc. This arc will go into depth of Devin's character, his and Gavin's backstory and of course flesh out just what caused so much tension between the two brothers, so stay tuned.**

**Also to the reviewer known as Connor (guest): Gavin only has two powers, three if you could his healing factor. The rest are merely either side effects of one of his powers or him being a mutant, or just him using one of his powers in a way where it gives the **_**illusion **_**of him having more than two powers.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Full Metal Samurai**

Devin and his mentor looked at each other for a while, the boy crossing his arms over his chest in aggravation as he glared at the Samurai in front of him.

"_Settle this peacefully? I'm investigating the accident that killed my father that could have possibly been a murder meant to look like an accident. There's nothing 'peaceful' about any of that."_ The boy told the Silver Samurai.

"_There are many possibilities and, my apologies for these words, you're father's death being a staged murder is not one of them._" Harada replied, getting a look of anger from the metal mutant.

"_Things don't add up, Harada-sensei. None of the evidence I managed to sift through matches the criteria of the causes that were proposed!" _Devin snapped. "_I know that my grandparents and the five families knew of my mother's connection to the FBI in America and hated her for it, and it's one of the reasons why they kept trying to make me hate her. Do you honestly expect me to believe that one of them couldn't have ordered a hit to kill on her that might have gone awry?" _

Harada gave the boy a discerning look. "_You're opening up an old wound, pupil. Why are you so enthralled with this endeavor now, of all times? You've never cared about this until now. What caused you to change?"_

"_Nothing changed, I just finally decided to do something rather than watch my mother's honor be slandered any longer." _Devin said as he suddenly turned his left hand into a giant morning star mace and let it drop to the ground. "_Now, you can back away and allow me to do this, or I can force you, sensei. Your choice."_

The Samurai sighed in defeat at that. "_I see, so there really is no reasoning with you." _He then drew his sword from its scabbard and then pointed it at the boy. "_I'm sorry that it has come to this, my student."_

"_I sincerely doubt that." _The boy stated coldly as he leapt into the air and swung his mace arm down and clashed it with Harada's sword.

(Flashback)

-_Shirakumo residence, ten years ago-_

Devin was standing in front of his grandparents in their living room, his seven year old eyes searing with anger and aggravation towards the two as his fists were clenched and shook violently.

"_I want to see my mom and brother! Why won't you let me be with them?!" _He yelled at the two angrily.

"_Because it's for your own good! Nothing positive will come from associating with them!"_ Devin's grandmother exclaimed.

"_Shut up! You're lying! I know you are!" _The boy screamed in rage. As if that triggered something in his mind, his body rippled a metallic silver and then his body soon became covered in metal spikes that extended five inches in length, ripping through the little boy's clothes.

The elderly Yakuza couple backed up in shock at the unexpected display. The boy shook violently and kept glaring at them angrily.

"_I will never believe you! I will find out the truth, no matter how long it takes!" _The boy yelled at them as they stared at him in shock and fear.

(Flashback End)

Devin's mace collided with Harada's sword, and sparks flew as the two metals clashed and grazed. "_You won't be able to slice through my metal skin so easily now, Harada. For now with my new enhancements, I'm able to make my metal into any alloy I want, and the one I'm using? An organic alloy of Adamantium and Vibranium." _He said, his metal now coating his entire body.

"_So you boast. Let us see if your words are true."_ The Silver Samurai replied. The man then struck the boy with his sword, only for him to turn his arms into a shield and block it. Harada kept swinging but his blade wasn't making so much as a scratch, and unbeknownst to him, the metal of his katana was slowly starting to crack with every strike.

The exchange of blows continued for a while with Harada's blade continuing to crack. After a few more minutes, the fighters locked blades again as they glared at each other.

"_You foolish boy, I've taught you everything you know! You hold no surprises for me!" _Harada growled.

Devin smirked as he turned his shield back into his hands and gripped the Samurai's sword, tightening his grip. "_Not everything."_ He said as he clamped down on the sword and caused it to shatter into a million pieces. This caused the man to fall forward due to gravity, and allowed Devin to turn his arms into metal tendrils and wrap them around him before pulling him down and driving his knee hard into his mentor's midsection while making a spike on his knee in the process.

Harada spasmed as he coughed up blood from the impact, hunching over in pain as his stomach bled. "_Where… Did you learn that?" _He growled.

"_I had a lot of things to learn in America." _Devin shrugged. He then shoved the man away as the Samurai clutched his now bleeding stomach. Devin slowly walked up to his mentor and sighed deeply. "_I'm sorry sensei, but I've waited for this opportunity too long to be stopped now." _He then turned his hand into a hammer and then raised it over Harada's head, before bringing it down on him.

The blow knocked the wounded warrior out cold. Devin made his hammer into his normal hand again and sighed. '_I really wish I didn't have to do this to you, sensei…' _He thought with a bit of sadness. '_But unfortunately for you, my love for my mother and desire to find closure to my father's death is stronger than my loyalty to you.'_

(Elsewhere)

In a traditional styled Japanese mansion in Tokyo, a man sat in a parlor of sorts as he drank some sort of Japanese alcohol, most likely a brand of Japanese whiskey. Swords, weapons and old armor hung from racks on the walls around him.

This man was Shingin Yashida, master of the Silver Samurai, leader of the Yashida crime syndicate, and sole benefactor to the Shirakumo family.

As the man drank his beverage, one of his informants suddenly burst into the door, rather shaken.

"_Sir, it's Harada! He's been seriously injured!" _He exclaimed in alarm as he tried to catch his breath.

"_What?!" _Shingin yelled as he stopped his drinking. "_How? Who was able to wound our Silver Samurai?"_

"_His former student, Devin Shirakumo."_ The informant replied, finally having his breathing under control.

"_... Why?" _The man hissed, venom clear in his voice, he asked this as if he had suspected who, but for some reason still needed a why.

"_From what I managed to gather, he's investigating his father's demise. He believes it was a murder rather than an accident." _The informant explained. "_And… Harada was standing in his way of doing so." _He added.

"_And you were able to gain this from Harada?"_ Shingin asked.

"_Yes sir." _The informant nodded.

The man sighed in aggravation as he gripped the glass in his hand tightly. "_... Very well, if he wishes to stir up trouble, then we shall give him trouble." _He then looked at the man in front of him. "_I will make a call to our dear friend_ _Seiji Shirakumo, and in the meantime…" _He then got up from his seat. "_Get me Lady Deathstrike."_

(Elsewhere)

Devin was now visiting one of the Yamahara family's many chop shops in Shibuya, and was currently requesting the making of a car he intended to enter into a street race to draw out his desired target.

"_You sure this is what ya want, kid? This is some pretty high end stuff, especially for a kid like you." _The man he spoke to said as he read over the boy's list. "_And what's a kid like you doing entering a street race anyway?"_

"_Personal reasons." _Devin replied curtly.

"_Alright, if you're sure." _The man shrugged, before leading him to a room full of different kinds of cars. "_Go ahead and take your pick._" The man told him as the boy looked at all the vehicles around him.

"_I intend to." _The boy said as he took a step forward. '_Tenya Obiwara, I'm coming for you…' _he thought to himself as his skin rippled in its metallic sheen again as he gritted his teeth.

It was off to the races now, winner take all, and he intended to win, by any means necessary...


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: Full Metal Tokyo Drift**

Devin was now entering the street race that his target was currently in. He drove his car to the starting line with the other racers and waited for the referee to start the race.

"_Racers, on your marks!" _A Japanese woman in a pair of stilettos, a pair of tight fitting Lycra shorts, and a micro bikini top that barely held her massive rack said as she raised two green flags. The drivers all revved their engines in response. "_Get set_…" The sound of revving engines continued before… "_GO!" _With that, she waved the flags downwards, prompting all the racers to speed off.

Devin pushed down on the gas and blasted off as the race began. As he weaved through the other cars, his mind wandered to the first time he ever drove a car.

(_Flashback)_

Fourteen year old Devin looked at the car in front of him apprehensively before he glanced at his grandfather. The man smiled at him and gestured for him to climb in.

The two both entered the vehicle and his grandfather started instructing him on how to operate it. "_Alright, now, adjust your seat, mirrors, wheel and then buckle up." _He instructed. Devin did as asked before buckling up and starting the engine.

"_Alright, now let's start this off slow. If you make a mistake, it's fine, that's part of learning after all." _His grandfather told him warmly.

The boy sighed as he smiled ever so slightly. "_Yes, I know." _He told the man.

(_End Flashback)_

Devin snapped back to reality as he had to swerve to avoid a car that had gone tumbling into a fiery wreck and then use his car's drifting function to successfully make a very sharp turn. The rubber of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution he was driving, smoking and burning as the axles strained from the 50 G speed turn he was making.

As he was finally able to straighten up, he then saw a familiar car: a red Honda with the logo of the Harada Family on the trunk, it was the car of _Tenya Obiwara_, the man who he's been looking for.

"_Found you!"_ Devin shouted as he hit the gas. Blasting past one man, he slammed into him and caused the car to hit two others and cause a pileup. With that done, he moved to phase two of his plan.

Getting two cars ahead of Obiwara, he then swerved his car to the side and caused the first one to crash into its side before blasting out the window and turning into his liquid metal state of slick through the window of the second car's passenger side and then turned to face the driver as he reformed.

"_Get out." _He said to the driver coldly. Gulping at the sudden passenger he now had, the driver opened the car door and jumped out, only to get run over.

Devin took control of the wheel and then _slammed _on the brakes, causing his car to stop and Obiwara to not be able to react fast enough to avoid a collision. The second man's car flipped over Devin's and landed on its roof, the car's occupant now forced to crawl out, all the while being quite banged up from the crash.

The man was a greasy looking Japanese man with what looked to be a ponytail and was dressed in a cheap looking leather biker suit, which was now slightly damaged. As soon as he was halfway out of his now wrecked care, a hand found its way to his neck.

Devin picked him up by the neck and slung him into a nearby road railing, and before Obiwara could do anything to get away, the boy turned his finger into a spike and made it stretch and shoot into the man's shoulder, pinning him in place.

"_I had to do a lot of work just to find you, and I expect you to answer my questions._" The human T-1000 growled as he glared at his quarry.

"_Fuck you!_" The man yelled through strangled wails of pain.

Devin narrowed his eyes before he punched the man in the gut. "_Answer my questions, and you'll increase your chances of living through this experience." _He said in a cold tone. "_Now, you were the one who crashed a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX250 into the car of Yusuke and Amanda Shirakumo on the night of June 20, 1987, correct?"_

"_Y-yeah. What of it?" _Obiwara asked through clenched teeth.

"_Why? Why did you do it? The Shirakumos harbored no ill will towards you or your superiors, so why, why would you cause a crash that killed one of them?" _The boy questioned angrily, causing his finger spike to go deeper into the man's shoulder.

The cornered racer grunted as he felt the spike go deeper into his shoulder. "_B-b-because I was paid to do it! Look, if you let me live, I'll give you their name honestly!" _He offered through the pain..

Devin slowly retracted the spike and crossed his arms. "_I'm listening." _He stated coldly.

"_Sh-Shingin Yashida. He was the one who paid me. He wanted me to kill the American woman and make it look like an accident. I don't know why, he never said, but he was furious when it turned out I killed the wrong person." _Obiwara whimpered through the pain.

Devin was silent as he processed this information. He finally had the name of his father's killer, and all he had to do was deal with him personally. First thing's first, though. "_So… You were trying to kill my mother… Is that it?" _He asked the man, causing shock to be plastered all over his face.

"_Wait a minute, you're one of her sons?!" _He asked.

Devin didn't answer, he just raised his hand and then turned it into a giant scythe. Despite Obiwara's pleading, it all fell on deaf ears as the boy brought the weapon down on the man and killed him, blood splattering all over the road and other areas as the boy's victim let out one last scream.

(Elsewhere)

-_Yashida Stronghold-_

Shingin Yashida was now sitting in his parlor across from Devin's grandfather, Seiji Shirakumo, and was currently discussing the blood trail the man's mutant grandson was leaving all over Japan in his search for answers, and in short, neither men were overly happy about it.

"_This is getting out of hand! You need to do something about your grandson before he causes irreparable damage!" _Shingin said in a no-nonsense tone.

"_I've tried numerous times, Yashida-san, but the boy is far too stubborn. Once he figures out a goal or 'directive' as he calls it, he will not stop until it is complete." _The elderly man then sighed as he put his face in his hands in sadness. "_He is so much like his father, but he is also like the cold metal he uses. When he tries to accomplish a goal, he is cold, calculating, unfeeling, merciless and completely devoid of any morals or honor. He is very much… A machine in human form." _He explained.

"_Then how are we supposed to stop him?!" _The other gang leader asked.

"_The only other person that can possibly stand up to him is his brother, but sadly, that option is unavailable due to the fact me and my wife pushed him and my daughter-in-law away." _Seiji sighed tiredly.

"_Then that is your fault, Seiji, not mine." _Shingin growled. "_No matter, I already have one of my own mercenary subordinates taking care of him. It will no longer be of any concern soon."_

"_But-" _Seiji tried to protest.

"_I apologize, but this must be done. The good of the Yashida clan is at stake." _The clan head told his friend calmly. "_You forget, the only reason why I ordered the hit on your daughter-in-law was because she was getting too close to figuring out what the clan and our partners from HYDRA were doing."_

"_If Devin finds out I allowed this to happen, then it will destroy any relationship we may have left."_ Seiji said, not liking that outcome.

"_This is for the good of the clan, Seiji. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that is a price you will have to be willing to pay." _Shingin told him before pouring him a drink. "_Here, to help calm you."_

The elderly man sighed as he took the drink, but no sooner than it went down his throat, he immediately started choking. The man grasped at his throat as he fell to the ground, shaking and convulsing until he foamed at the mouth seconds later and soon laid there, dead.

"_Forgive me, old friend, but this is necessary." _Shingin said to his now late friend sadly. He then picked up the phone next to him. "_Deathstrike, report. Have you dealt with Miss Akeno Shirakumo?"_

"_**Yes Mr. Yashida, all loose ends have been successfully cut. I now await your instructions.**_" Came a very creepy female voice from the other end.

"_Excellent. Now, go find the boy." _The man told her.

"_**Of course."**_ The female mercenary replied before ending the call. On the other end, a woman with a lanky build, oily black hair and long adamantium needles coming from her fingers looked back at the dead body of Devin's grandmother, who she stabbed through the mouth, dropping to the ground. The woman then stepped over the corpse and left, grinning from ear to ear.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: Full Metal Justice **

Devin sighed as he walked down the street to his grandparents house. He wanted to say something to them before he finished his business and returned to Bayville, namely, how sorry he was for being such a brat when he was little. Sure they kept things hidden from him, but at least their intentions were pure.

But as soon as he arrived at the house, he saw that it was torn to shreds, and the door was taken off its hinges. His eyes widening in alarm and concern, he rushed into his farndparent's home and saw, to his horror, his grandmother was dead. Devin fell to his knees in shock and sorrow, which swiftly turned into anger.

"_WHO DID THIS?!"_ He yelled in fury, his eyes being stung by tears that ran down his face. That was when he saw a note pinned on the wall. It was written in a crude Katakana dialect.

'_If you want to avenge your family, come find me.' _It said and had the address of the Yashida stronghold written at the bottom.

Growling with vengeance on his mind, he immediately took off after calling the police about the murder of his grandparents. After a few minutes, he arrived at the Yashida residence.

There he saw a pair of guards standing at the door between him, and the vengeance he so sorely sought. Shifting into his costume he charged towards the two guards, ready to kill them if he needed to.

As he got close, he was a bit surprised when one of the guards raised their hand for him to stop. He did so, and he was rewarded with the two guards wordlessly opening the door.

'_Why do I get the feeling that I'm walking into a trap?' _The boy thought as he walked through the door and towards the building.

Devin walked into the building, but found that it was vacant of anyone save himself. He wordlessly shifted his left hand into a shield to defend against any potential sneak attacks.

That was when a beam of blue light shot at him. When the metal user held up his shield to defend. It actually caused the object to destabilize and turn his arm into unruly liquid metal before he managed to reform it. The boy growled in pain as he gripped his arm.

"_Painful isn't it? This is what we have been working on all these years_." A voice said as Shingin Yashida came out of the shadows holding some sort of gun. "_Behold, a weapon given to us courtesy of our friends at HYDRA, a gun powered by the very essence of the mythical Tesseract."_

'_This isn't good. I need to play this smart or I'm a dead man.' _Devin thought as he eyed the gun warily. "_So this… __**Thing **__is the reason you nearly had my mother killed? So you could use those to strong arm your way to power like those cowards at HYDRA?" _He growled aloud.

"_Still hung up on that, are you? Please, this wasn't the only reason. That __**whore **__of a woman you call a mother had no business fraternizing with our ranks. To be honest I think I did your father a mercy by separating them." _The man scoffed, holding his weapon up.

If Devin wasn't seething in fury before he was now. This… _Fool _of a man thought he did his father a _mercy?!_ There was no mercy in separating them!

"_You BASTARD!" _Devin yelled as he turned his body into a liquid metal serpentine form and lunged at the crime boss, dodging his weapon's shots as best he could.

But before he could reach Shingin, he was blocked by Lady Deathstrike, who swatted him to the side with a kick to what was his 'face' in that form. Shaking his head clean of cobwebs, Devin looked at Lady Deathstrike with a glare.

"_Good work Deathstrike, now end him while I prepare to make my leave." _Shingin ordered the woman.

"_With pleasure." _Deathstrike nodded as she extended her needle-like claws and faced Devin, who turned his arms into axes.

"_I won't let you deny me this!" _The metal mutant growled. With a roar of anger he lunged at the woman and started swinging his ax arms around like a madman while Deathstrike blocked his attacks with minimal effort. Deciding to try a new tactic, he tried to surprise the needle-clawed assassin by using a liquid arm to hold her right arm in a vice grip.

Deathstrike roared and screamed as she struggled against his grip, before grinning and brought her leg up to kick him in the crotch area… That was not one of her best moments.

The second her leg hit his manhood, she yelped when her leg suddenly throbbed with pain. She looked at Devin, who had a disappointed look on his face.

"_Did you really think that would work on me?" _He deadpanned.

"_Silence!" _She hissed before she sent one of her claws towards his eye, trying to see if she could blind him. Devin saw the attack coming and created a metal mask over his eyes to block it.

"_Pathetic, do you honestly think you can get the drop on me-" _Devin mocked before Deathstrike flipped up and kicked him in the chin before getting free of his grip. Devin rubbed his chin before He glared at the assassin in front of him. He needed to wrap this up fast or he would risk Yashida escaping.

(Elsewhere)

Shingin made his way to the outside of his stronghold where a man in a purple suit, mask, golden gloves and boots was standing in front of a helicopter with the symbol of HYDRA on it.

"Baron Zemo." Shingin said while speaking in semi fluent English.

"Shingin Yashida. I assume that your current operations have been disrupted here?" Zemo asked knowingly.

"Regrettably, yes. The bastard half breed son of one of my late retainers has been on a blood trail for revenge for his father's accidental murder." The man side. "If you'd be willing, I would be grateful to have your assistance."

"If we must, HYDRA will provide you assistance." Zemo sighed before snapping his fingers. "Men, enter the stronghold, and bring me the head of this interloper!"

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers responded before heading off to try and kill Devin.

(Meanwhile)

Devin was now pinned to the floor by Deathstrike and was looking for a way to beat her when he saw her arms weren't connected to her body naturally, they were some sort of organic/cybernetic fusion. Nodding at that he turned completely to liquid and split before reforming behind her and grabbing her arms. He then pressed his foot to her back and pulled her arms back.

"_You seem very fond of these arms, very __**attached **__to them." _The boy hissed in her ear as he pulled back harder. The action caused fear to swell up in her eyes. "_Mind if I __**take them?**_" He asked before violently ripping her arms off, causing her to scream in pain.

As soon as the arms were gone, Devin tossed them aside and then continued forward, but just as he was about to get to where Shingin was, he was yet again impeded by someone in his way: six HYDRA soldiers with Tesseract guns.

"Surrender now!" One soldier said in English as he and the others aimed their guns at him.

"I have no time for this!" Devin snarled before turning into liquid metal and closing the gap quickly. He then turned his arm into a claw and then forced a gun out of one of their hands and then started blasting them with their own weapon.

The real life Terminator was not disappointed by the results. While their guns were powerful, they forgoed defense should their weapons be turned on them. As soon as the beams hit them, their bodies and armor were all vaporized.

Devin shouldered the gun, deciding to keep it, then ran up to the roof where Shingin and Zemo currently were. When he saw them in the helicopter, he acted fast and fired at the rotors as they spun, rendering the flying transport method useless.

Zemo was the first to jump out, Shingin tried to get him to help, but the man simply threw him across the roof towards Devin.

"I'm sorry Her Yashida, but HYDRA has no place for liabilities, especially not ones who cannot even handle a child." Zemo said before he pressed a button on a watch he had, which caused him to glow before he disappeared. Shingin was about to yell out something when Devin knocked him to the ground.

"_Any last words, murderer?" _The angry metal mutant growled.

"_I have nothing to say to __**you, **__you half breed freak!" _Shingin yelled definitely. "_Go ahead and kill me! You'll just be causing something you won't be able to stop! My followers will come for you and you'll never be able to live peacefully ever again!"_

Devin sighed as he turned his arm into a blade, raised it in the air and then brought it down… *Crack* only for it to be stabbed in the ground just inches from the man's head.

"_As much as I want to kill you… I know it will change nothing. But that doesn't mean I can't get justice for what you've taken from me." _He said as he tied the man up and left him with the recordings he got from him and Obiwara and several other pieces of evidence he had gathered, before leaving the stronghold just as the police had arrived.

'_Finally… It's over.' _Devin sighed as he walked away, he spent the next hour walking until he reached the local cemetery and then went to where his father's grave. The boy then lit some incense and placed them in front of the grave, along with an offering of his dad's favorite snack, Matcha Mochi next to his picture.

"Father, it's been a long time… Sorry I haven't come here more often." He said to the picture as he knelt in front of the grave.

The picture stared back at him as the man in it smiled back in a still pose. Devin sighed heavily. "Alright, alright. I'll pray before I say anything else. No need to chew my ear off." The boy sighed with a small smile as he made the sign of the cross and prayed in front of the grave.

"God please, hear my prayer… I have committed several terrible sins against your design, but know that I was only seeking justice. I hope you can forgive me. Amen." He said before turning to his father's picture. "I hope you can forgive me too father, but, please know I only did this for you and mother…. And I know that it won't bring you back but, I just couldn't bear not letting your death not be squared. I just hope you can forgive me too."

Devin spent a few more moments in front of his father's grave, hoping to find some peace. After those few moments were gone, he felt himself feel better as he got up and smiled at the picture. "Bye dad, see you later." He said before he started traveling to the airport. With his grandparents gone, his only guardian left was his mother, so he decided he'd go to where she had sent his other remaining family: Bayville, and the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters.

As he entered the airport he dialed his cell to call his brother and mom but got voicemail for both. After telling his mother what he was doing, he then left a message for Gavin.

"I'll make this quick, Gavin. I have good news and bad news. Good news is: I finished my business in Japan and got dad's killer behind bars, and found out why. Bad news: Our grandparents are dead, so… I'll need to stay with you and the X-Men from now on. I'll see you when I get to Bayville. Bye." The boy said as he hung up.

Once that was done, he started his long trek back to Bayville so he could be with his remaining family again.

**And that's it, the Full Metal: Origin arc. Starting next week we'll be getting back to our usual pattern again, so expect the next chapter of the Season 2 ep. 2: Power Surge. So be ready guys. See you later.**

**Dragon Emperor0**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21: Power Up**

A week passed since the Brotherhood made the stupid mistake of revealing the existence of mutants and at the same time causing the X-Men to bend over backwards to fix the whole mess. Gavin had received word from his brother that their grandparents had been killed and actually felt crestfallen. Sure, he may not have liked his grandparents, but he never wanted them dead.

Luckily though, Rouge and Chelsea were more than happy to help cheer him up. Well, Rogue was. Chelsea's approach was of the 'you'll survive' variety.

Right now, he and the others were in the auditorium for an award ceremony, and Jean had just been called up to give a speech because she had been voted as the MVP.

The red haired telepath started to say a few words, before she suddenly stopped. Her words seemed to be caught in her throat. That was when the pseudo vampire felt the familiar sensation of someone trying to glimpse into his mind. This made him realize just what was wrong with her.

"Uh oh." He whispered before elbowing Rogue. "I think something's up with Jean." He mentioned to the auburn haired goth.

"Whaddya mean?" She whispered back, trying to keep her voice low to not alert her friend, Risty.

"You see how Jean can't seem to speak?" The vampire fan asked.

"Yeah? What about it?" Rogue asked in aggravation, she wasn't too fond of how Jean was so much better than her.

"Rogue, it's because she can't control her telepathy, she's firing off at random. If that same effect happens to her telekinesis-" His statement was cut short when Jean let out a startled yell and suddenly sent her new trophy crashing to the ground, clutching her head in pain.

Everyone was in shock at what just occurred, but Principal Kelly helped her up and told them that she was experiencing a bad headache. So the ceremony went on while Jean went to the nurse's office.

After this Gavin was walking with Risty and Rogue to their next class when he saw Lance and Kitty walking together, both seemingly enjoying it. This caused the boy to gag in disgust, getting weird looks from the two girls.

"What's wrong?" Risty asked.

"It's Kitty and Alvers, They're getting to be really cutesy with each other, and it's making me sick." He told her, clutching her stomach.

Both Rogue and Risty looked at where said teenagers were and nodded. "Aw come on love, what's the harm in a little high school romance?" The British girl asked.

"Heartbreak, for starters." Gavin deadpanned.

"What would you know about heartbreak?" Rogue asked.

"Friend of mine is into this guy who's already got his eyes on someone else. And she's constantly being put through the emotional ringer because of it." He told her. '_Little does she know that she's the one I'm talking about.' _He thought to himself.

Risty, however, seemed to know exactly what and _who _he was talking about. "That's a real shame mate, and what are you gonna do about it?" She asked.

"Whatever I can to make her happy." Was Gavin's reply. "Even if it means I have to friend zone myself for her, it doesn't matter."

Both girls looked at him in shock. "How can you possibly be _that _selfless? It doesn't seem fair to you at all!" Rogue told him as they walked into their history class.

"So? I don't really care if it's not fair to me." He shrugged. "The heart wants what the heart wants, Rogue. If I were to stop her and try and get her to go out with me because the other guy won't even look at her, I'd be acting unbelievably selfish, and a relationship based on something like that isn't worth it."

Rogue looked down in thought. A thought process like Gavin's was something that a lot of people would appreciate, and maybe even date him for it. "Then that girl's an idiot." She told him while putting her hand on his shoulder. "And I think you deserve way better."

Risty giggled while nodding. "Right on!" She laughed.

Gavin sighed as he turned around. '_Deserve better? Doesn't she get it? I don't want better, I want her!' _He thought in dismay. The fact that Rogue was this dense was slightly frustrating.

(Elsewhere)

-_The Institute, Later that night-_

Scott had left the Institute to go to a party at Duncan Matthews place, and Gavin was about to go there himself with Risty and Rogue. But before he did, he was talking to Chelsea about what Devin had told him over the phone just a little bit ago.

"So let me get this straight, that accident that killed your dad was actually a professional hit that was meant for your mom?" The blonde asked.

"Apparently. What actually makes me mad is the fact that the one who ordered the hit thought he did my dad a _mercy_ by killing him. Tch, as if." He grumbled. "And he called me and Devin half breeds, which by the way is as racist as you can get."

"And what they were working on, what were they again? Weapons powered by the what now?" She questioned.

"Tesseract." Gavin answered. "A cosmic cube that's a doorway to other worlds, thought to be just a myth."

"And HYDRA has it…" The dragoness noted with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah." He hissed. "I swear at first I just hated them on principle, but now? Now it's personal." He added, slamming his fists on the table. "First chance I get, I'm taking them _down_.""

"You shouldn't, I've seen what they do. You won't stand a chance alone." The woman told him seriously. "But, If you actually do, at least be give 'em hell for me." She requested.

"I will." He nodded before getting up. "Well I'm gonna go get Rogue and go to that party, see you when I get back."

"Don't get drunk!" She called after him with a teasing grin.

"SHUT UP!" He yelled back in embarrassment.

-_Later at Duncan Matthews place-_

Right now Gavin was pulling up with Rogue and Risty at Duncan's place, and he was wearing his floppy brimmed fedora, heavily tinted sunglasses and red trench coat to the party, as well as his usual everyday wear control seal gloves. This particular getup earned him plenty of stares from the other kids there. At least until he took off his hat and coat.

"Not to shame your duds, love, but do you have to wear those gloves all the time? They look really tacky." Risty asked him.

"Kinda an ingrained habit, and did you just call my gloves _tacky?_" He asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Well they kinda are, mate." She shrugged.

Gavin was about to retort when his hearing picked up the sound of an object flying right towards them. Seeing a soccer ball on a collision course with Rogue's head, he reached out his hand to catch it. Then he looked at Duncan who was about to ask for it back, but only got its flattened left overs after Gavin popped it out of aggravation.

"You almost hit Rogue's head with that ball, genius." He growled.

"Whatever." The football star said as he rolled his eyes. He then started picking a fight with Scott, which then led to the two teens playing a very heated game of ping pong.

As this was going on, Rogue was watching Scott, who was obviously trying to do this to impress Jean while Risty was talking to Gavin.

"So this friend you mentioned earlier, what's her name?" She asked.

"Anna." He told her, using Rogue's real name. "Her name is Anna."

"That's a pretty name." The girl smiled, right before slapping him on the back. "Ah, but cheer up, I'm sure she'll come around sooner or later."

Meanwhile, with Duncan and Scott, they were _really _getting into their game of ping pong; even going as far to play it like actual tennis. This was all done right in front of everyone, much to Jean's chagrin. Eventually she just decided to discreetly use her powers to catch the ball out of frustration.

"Game, set, match!" She declared as she placed the ball on the table before walking off.

"What's got her knickers in a twist?" Risty asked Rogue, who just rolled her eyes.

"Who cares? It probably isn't even that big a deal for little perfect Jean Grey." The southern belle said before she got up. "Ah'm outta here." She said as she turned to leave.

"You're just gonna take off?" Risty asked in surprise.

"Ah'm not gonna stick around to get Jean's popularity rubbed in my face anymore." Rogue hissed. Gavin then got up and followed her. Same with Risty.

"Well, if you're leaving, I'm leaving too. Besides, last I checked, I was your ride." He told her as they left to go to his car.

"Fine, I'll come too. I just hope we don't miss anything." Risty sighed.

Back at the party, Jean and Scott were on the balcony when the redhead was attacked by another one of the headaches, which caused her to telekinetically throw Scott off the balcony by accident.

"Jeeeeaaaan!" The shaded teen yelled as he fell towards Duncan's pool at a rather unsafe speed. Jean immediately tried to stop him and just barely managed to stop him, she kept him up above the water for a few seconds before Duncan broke her concentration and she dropped Scott in the pool.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was now hanging upside down from the banister at the Institute while listening to his music player, when Jean and Scott walked in, the latter being completely soaked.

The pseudo vampire took off his headphones and turned up his hearing aids so he could hear what was going on.

"Scott, I said I'm sorry." The redhead said with a look of regret.

"Yeah well somehow I'm having a hard time believing that." Scott grumbled as he removed his jacket and started wringing it out.

Xavier then took this moment to get to the bottom of things as he entered the room. "What are you talking about, Scott? What happened?" The man asked.

"My bath." Scott grumbled.

"It's not worth talking about." Jean said as she looked away.

Right at that moment Rogue and Risty entered the foyer and Gavin decided to drop from the banister while landing on his feet, which scared the bejesus out of the English exchange student.

"Why do I not believe that?" He asked.

"Where'd you come from?!" Risty questioned in shock, which Gavin replied to by just pointing up before he turned to Jean with a stern look.

"Fess up Jean, something's going on with you and you know it." He stated coolly. The telepathic redhead just sighed in aggravation before walking past everyone.

"I'm going to bed." She told them as she walked.

Right then Kitty walked right through the wall right next to the trio of teens, yet again startling Risty, and to make things even worse, Logan walked in with Chelsea, who was using her fire breath to roast herself some marshmallows on her claws.

"And people say we don't follow the rules." Logan said to his blonde female companion who nodded while popping her cooked marshmallows into her mouth.

"You said it." The Dragoness nodded.

A few minutes later Risty had to leave, much to poor Rogue's aggravation. "I'm sorry Rogue, but you know all visits must be planned, for obvious reasons." Xavier told her.

"Fine, Ah just won't have any friends over, what's the difference?" The girl said indignantly as she crossed her arms. '_Ah bet Jean doesn't get treated like this.' _She thought.

"Hey, that's not true." Jean told her. "The professor doesn't treat me any different than you."

"Don't read my mind!" The white streaked girl growled.

Jean's eyes widened. "Sorry, I didn't realize it." She apologized.

Gavin scoffed as he crossed his arms. "What a load of bull. We all know that the prof treats you differently than the rest of us, don't even deny it."

"Gavin, that's enough." Xavier warned.

The pseudo vampire just held up his hand to the man and didn't even meet his gaze as he kept glaring at Jean. "Talk to the hand, cuz the face? Ain't listening." He said as he dissolved into smoke. "Guess that just means that the rest of us can't have social lives then…" He stated before he disappeared.

Everyone looked at each other in surprise. Just what got him so riled up all of a sudden? They all wondered.

(The next day)

Scott, Jean and Duncan were at the Track team tryouts, but Scott and Duncan were _still _at each other's throats. One of them does better than the other at one thing, and it gets reversed in another session. Scott beats Duncan at Javelin throws, Duncean beats Scott at the pole vault. And this went on the whole way.

That was until Duncan decided to push Scott down during a 50 meter dash, causing the latter to lose his shades in the process. This got the attention of Hank McKoy, the new PE coach and Science teacher. Meanwhile, Jean was about to toss a javelin when another headache suddenly erupted and forced her to her knees.

As she clutched her head in pain, javelins started to rise into the air and then one was sent straight towards Kitty, who was getting ready for her 50 meter dash. Luckily for her though, she had a force of nature as a guardian angel because Lance made her fall over to avoid getting hit.

A second javelin then went straight for Gavin and Rogue, who were trying out for the track team and watching the tryouts respectively. When the sharpened metal spear made its way towards Gavin, he was able to dodge it thanks to hearing it, but the same couldn't be said for Rogue as he had to save her from getting skewered.

"Rogue, lookout!" Gavin said as he tackled her to the ground to avoid the piece of equipment. Just in time too, since the javelin made a new home where the southern belle's head was just moments ago..

"Thanks." She told him.

"Like I said when we first met: I'll always have your back." He told her as he got up.

Jean's powers were still going wild as she had just hurled four shot put balls into the vicinity of several people, two being caught by McKoy and one getting deflected by Scott's lasers into crashing through Principal Kelly's window, much to the man's shock and bafflement.

Gavin ran over to Scott and helped him up. "Hey Scott, I know things are a little crazy right now, but could you _please _do me a favor and control your girlfriend before she kills us?!" He asked.

"I'll see what I can do. And she is _not _my girlfriend." Scott snapped before running over to Jean before she suddenly yelled out and collapsed.

(Later)

-_Xavier Institute- _

Everyone entered the Institute a while later with Scott carrying Jean, who was still unconscious. Xavier rolled towards them as he gestured for them to follow him to the medical room. As Scott set her down, he turned to the older telepath.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Her powers are growing far beyond what she can control. I'm going to try and help her get through, so stand back in case anything happens." The man told him. He then began to enter Jean's mind, only to find that it was in complete chaos. The man's attempts to reach out to her were met with her powers lashing out violently, causing telekinetic shockwaves to go throughout the Institute.

Meanwhile with the others, both Gavin and Chelsea were suddenly hit by the shockwaves that Jean made. Both clutched their heads as they yelled, but Gavin was able to resist it. Chelsea, however, wasn't so lucky. Her eyes turned Draconic as she breathed fire up at the ceiling as she yelled in pain and she felt as if some sort of limiter on her powers had just been released as she slammed her fist into the ground, causing it to shatter.

The blonde panted as she fell to her knees, Logan and Gavin running up to her as they tried to help her up. "You okay?" They both asked.

"I feel like something in my head just got removed! What do you two think?!" She retorted loudly.

Gavin reeled back as he clutched his ears. "Okay, turning down my hearing aids. Ow, that hurt." He said while shaking his head. The three then went down towards where Jean was currently floating and causing everything to fly around.

"Does anyone have some sort of a plan?" Chelsea yelled over the noise of the chaos.

"Well if living with hearing like mine has taught me anything, if there's too much going on inside your ears there's too much going on in your head." Gavin stated.

"How does that help?!" Kitty yelled.

"What I mean is we need to have her clear her mind and give her something to focus on." The pseudo vampire elaborated, before looking at Scott. "Namely the voice of someone she's close to?"

"I'll do it." Scott volunteered.

"And I'll handle clearing her head." Rogue nodded.

"Not alone you're not." Gavin told her while deploying his fangs. "Now let's go."

At his words, they charged at the telekinetic chaos zone Jean had unwittingly made. Wolverine hacked away at any debris heading his way while Kitty turned intangible to avoid damage… While accidentally letting Kurt take the blow at one point.

"Ah! Thanks a lot." He snipped sarcastically.

"Sorry." She apologized.

Transforming into smoke Gavin used the winds Jean was making to get in close before grabbing onto her from behind and then sank his fangs into her neck, slowly draining her vitality to slow her power down long enough for Rogue to get close.

The absorber mutant quickly used the opportunity to move in as close as she could and took as much stress as she could from Jean's mind. As soon as she was done, her taxed body gave and she started to fall, but Gavin quickly caught her and got her down safely, all whilst holding her in a bridal hold.

"I gotcha Rogue." He told her, before looking at Scott. "Alright Scotty, your turn!"

Scott walked towards Jean as much as he could before he started calling to her. "Jean! It's me, Scott! Listen, just try and focus on my voice!" He called her.

"Scott!" Jean's voice called back, but it wasn't coming from her... It was coming from Rogue.

"... What?" Was Gavin's confused question.

Scott ran over to Rogue and then tried to speak to Jean through her. "Come on Jean, you can do this, just focus on me." He told her.

"I can't! I'm losing you!" She replied.

"No you're not! I won't let you. I know you can do this Jean, because I know you. I know you better than anyone ever could, or ever will." Scott told her firmly as the effects of Rogue and Gavin's powers started to wear off.

Jean maintained her telekinetic wall for a few more moments before she dropped back onto the table, unconscious.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Scott ran over to her. Rogue, meanwhile, was still in Gavin's arms. The Institute's resident horror aficionado holding her tightly in case she may still be a little shaky.

"Finally…." The boy sighed in relief. "It's over."

(A few days later)

A few days after the whole debacle, everyone was slowly starting to get back to normal. Though ever since she felt that break in her head, Chelsea had been checking up with the professor to make sure her powers wouldn't go wild in a similar fashion. Luckily for her though, it seemed as though her powers would be growing at a more manageable rate, though how they would grow was left ambiguous.

Gavin on the other hand was keeping an eye on Rogue. Ever since he heard Jean's voice come from her, he had become worried that something may have happened to her mind. Though these worries were soon dashed after a few days.

"Say, Gavin?" Rogue asked him as they sat outside in the front yard.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"How did you know, ya know when I had gotten mad at Jean, how I was thinking?" She questioned.

Gavin was quiet for a little bit before he turned to face her. "Well, I guess it's because I know you. It's like Scott said, he may know Jean better than anyone." He then grabbed her by the shoulder and held her in a comforting manner. "But I'm the one who knows you better than anyone ever has, or ever will."

Rogue looked at him and smiled before she gave him a hug, which he returned. It was true though, he really did know her better than anyone.

(Elsewhere)

-_Bayville City line-_

Bast slowly got off the bus she had just taken to the city line to Bayville and then started to try and hail a cab. She had been traveling for the past week and now she was in the final stretch. She knew the way to the Institute from memory because she had been there before, so getting there wasn't going to be a problem.

The woman sighed as her cat ears and tail twitched under her clothing. "Won't be long now." She said as she pulled out a burner phone she had with her and dialed a number.

"Moshi moshi, Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, Gavin Shirakumo speaking. Who is this?" A kid's voice said at the other end.

"Yeah, is Professor Charles Xavier there? I'd like to speak with him." The woman said as she entered a cab.

"He's not available right now, can I take a message?" The boy asked.

"No, it's fine. But is a Chelsea Marks there?" Bast questioned. There was a brief moment of silence before Gavin responded.

"... Your name wouldn't happen to be Bast, would it?" He asked.

"... How'd you know?" She asked warily.

"Chelsea told me about you. She also mentioned you were Gazan and you have a Gaza accent, so I put two and two together." The boy told her. "So, what would you like me to tell her and the professor?"

"Just that I'll be arriving at the Institute in about a day or so. Think you can do that?" Bast asked.

"Yeah. Chelsea's gonna love that you'll be here soon." He replied.

"Me too. Well, see ya later." She told him.

"Sayonara!" The boy smiled as they both hung up.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Eye of the (Gazan) Tiger**

It had been six weeks after Jean had gotten control over her powers after the whole Power Surge debacle. And he was now finishing up a training session with Chelsea.

The boy had basically made his case to Xavier that if he was going to learn not to use his powers, he was going to have some other way to defend himself in life or death situations, so he was given permission to keep his two guns. On the conditions that he'd only use them if absolutely necessary.

As the boy panted, he looked at Chelsea, who had her hands on her hips, a smirk on her face. The bags under her eyes were finally gone, and she had been happier than ever.

"You really have cheered up after going to those counseling sessions." He told her.

"Yeah, I honestly feel like a totally new woman now." The blonde nodded. "Thanks for helping me Gavin."

"Hey, what're brothers for?" He shrugged as they walked into the halls of the Institute, both having towels draped over their necks.

As they entered the main entrance, there was a knock on the door. Both turned around and saw a woman around Chelsea's age who looked to be Middle Eastern, and had elf-like ears, cat like eyes, and a cat tail.

Chelsea nearly spat out her water as she stared at the woman, who stared back. "...Bast?"

"Chelsea?" Bast stared back. The two stared at each other for a moment longer before Gavin watched his mentor slowly walk towards the door as if she moved too suddenly the other woman would vanish.

"Care to let me in?" the cat-like mutant said calmly in a soft, low voice.

Chelsea opened the door, throwing herself on the other woman, holding her tight. "What are you doing here?!"

"It's good to see you too." The darker-skinned woman replied, with a smile, placing a hand on Chelsea's cheek. "I've missed you."

"You still didn't answer my question." The blond ridiculed. "Bast, where did you come from?"

"It's a long story." The cat woman explained.

"Uh, excuse me, mind to explain what's going on?" Gavin spoke out, trying to get their attention.

"This is Bast, she's one of the friends I told you about." Chelsea told him.

"Oh, right. I remember now." The boy nodded as he held out his hand on the woman. "I'm Gavin Shirakumo. Code name Vampyr." He introduced himself. "We talked on the phone."

"Fatima, but my friends call me Bast." She nodded, shaking the boy's hand. The woman then turned to Chelsea. "Chels, I need your help." She told the Dragoness.

"Is it HYDRA?" The blonde asked.

"Yeah, they're on my tail, luckily I'm two months ahead of them so if we disable my tracker we should be able to lose them." Bast explained.

"Well we can get that done real quick." Gavin mentioned. "I'll go get the professor." He said as he left.

As the boy left Bast looked Chelsea over and saw just how much she had changed. "So, you actually came here huh?" She asked.

"Yep. And I'm so glad I did." Chelsea replied.

"And how have you been doing? You look like a completely different person." The cat woman asked.

"Way better than I was before, and it certainly helps that I managed to find a little brother figure here, too." Was the dragoness's response. "Well, that and actually getting to eat three times a day, getting actual rest and not having to fear for your life can really change ya." Chelsea said sheepishly. "Still me though."

"Of course. You're too stubborn to change too much." Bast said quietly, looking around the foyer. "It's quite the place. Wish I took the Professor up on his offer when he reached out."

"Yeah, Bast you never told me how that happened," Chelsea said, crossing her arms. "When you and I parted you just handed me his card."

The middle eastern girl let out a small sigh. "He approached me while I was out on a food run. that's all."

"And why didn't you tell me?!"

"Well you can't blame me for thinking that's a little creepy. Especially because we were being attacked by HYDRA! Some guy came up, saying he has a perfect place for mutants. It sounded like a trap. Besides you, besides, you wouldn't have listened to me, you were too caught up in doing things YOUR way."

"Bast I was trying to provide for you and the others." Chelsea's tone dropped angrily, her eyes turning draconic. "At least it worked."

"Well did you ever end up getting an STD?" Bast countered with feigning politeness and a smile.

Chelsea growled before taking a breath, figuring it was better to avoid the argument of her escorting career. She was about to open her mouth when behind her the voice of Xavier rang out.

"Bast. It's a pleasure to see you again." The older telepath smiled kindly.

"Likewise Mr. Xavier." Bast nodded.

"Please, Mr. Xavier was my father. You can just call me Professor, or Charles." The man chuckled.

Gavin walked up behind the man before he snapped his fingers, as if remembering something. "Oh yeah I almost forgot! Chels, Miss Frost said she'd be dropping by for your monthly progress meeting, she said she'd be here tomorrow at six."

"Thanks for the reminder, Gav." Chelsea nodded.

"Who's Miss Frost?" Bast asked.

"The Institute's new counselor. She's another one of the reasons why I'm doing better." The Dragoness explained. "She's a telepath, she used her powers to erase most of my traumatic memories and any kind of programming HYDRA may have done and suppressed the rest."

"And the results speak for themselves I see." The cat woman noted. "How much did she erase?"

"Around half. The rest were so either minor or just ingrained to where nothing could be done, and the rest were locked so deep in my head that they basically just became a part of my feral instincts. But honestly I'd say it worked regardless of what it did." The blonde shrugged.

"You should try it too." Gavin piped up to Bast. "Who knows? Maybe it'll work for you too?"

The cat woman was quiet for a second before she shrugged. "Maybe. But first..." she then turned to Charles. "I'd really appreciate it if you could remove this tracking device inside me." She said while pointing at the small of her back as her tail twitched.

"Of course." Xavier nodded. "I've already told our resident doctor to prep our med bay."

"You do have quite the outfitted place don't you?" Bast said cooly as they began to walk towards the elevator.

"You have no idea." Gavin chimed in with a grin. "Chelsea and I can show you around after your procedure."

Bast shivered slightly, but managed a small smile. "Please don't use that word. The less medical terminology the better, especially in a place like this." She said as they walked out of the elevator into the metallic hallway of the med bay.

Gavin grimaced. "Geez, those creeps at HYDRA really screwed with you guys. I gotta say though, you're at least more polite than Chels was when she first came here."

"Watch what you say, kid!" The shapeshifter growled.

At that moment they were approached by none other than Hank McKoy, who had been acting as the Institute's part-time doctor in between his jobs as PE coach and Science teacher at Bayville High.

The man smiled through his glasses as he extended a large hand to Bast. "You must be my patient." He said to the woman.

"Yea, I'd say I am." Bast nodded as she shook Beast's hand.

"Well we'll leave you to it Hank, come on you two." Xavier said as the three of them left.

While they waited Gavin sat upside down on the couch in the Rec room while he flipped through the channels to find something for them to watch, deciding to watch Sanford and Son.

"Hey Chelsea?" He asked.

"Yeah?" The woman answered.

"That base where you and Bast were held, where do you think it was?" He questioned.

"I think it was in the Alps, why?" Chelsea pressed.

"Just curios." The pseudo vampire shrugged. "... So, did you have any other friends?"

"Yeah, four. Romano, Pele, Kai, and Marcus." The blonde nodded. "One died, two were recaptured and the other is in a orphanage in Florida."

"Oh... Sorry I asked." He said sheepishly. "And that guy Rowner, if you were, ya know, ever get revenge on him... What would you do?"

"Honestly? I'd honestly let the others (if we can get them back) torture him, then when he's broken, I'd eat him alive." The woman chuckled darkly.

"Nice." Snickered the younger boy.

"... Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that you'll go on a blood hunt until you find Rowner?" The elder mythical-based mutant deadpanned.

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I guess you'll never know." The boy shrugged as they continued to watch TV.

A few hours later, Bast had woken up from having her surgery, and was now resting on the couch of the main living room. As she read a medical magazine that the Professor had loaned her, Chelsea, Gavin and Logan all suddenly entered the room.

"I'm telling ya Logan, if you just let me work on your Harley I guarantee I'll be able to help it get twice as much horsepower!" The boy tried to tell the scraggly mutant as the New Mutants all watched from opposite corners of the room as to give Bast her space.

"And I'm telling _you,_ that I don't want you screwing around with my ride." The metal boned man responded with a huff.

"If I can upgrade a muscle car like mine, I think I can handle an old Harley Davidson." Gavin retorted.

"You mean like how you tried to 'upgrade' the X-Van and accidentally rewired it to where the missile launchers activated when you turned on the windshield wipers?" Chelsea chuckled.

"Hey, that was advanced tech I was dealing with there, not old school rides!" The horror enthusiast rebuked.

"What are they going on about?" Bast whispered to Amara, who was sitting next to her watching TV.

"Gavin wants to give Logan's ride an upgrade, but he keeps getting turned down. Chelsea keeps taking Logan's side at times, but that's mostly to bring up some of Gavin's past failures." Amara replied nonchalantly.

"Then she really has taken a liking to that kid." The cat woman smiled.

"Yeah, they're practically like siblings." Bobby nodded as they leaned over the couch and watched the three mutants arguing. "They, meanwhile, look like a dysfunctional family." He added with a chuckle.

"So what's that guy's story?" The middle eastern woman asked, pointing at Logan.

"That's Logan, he and Chelsea have become pretty close lately. They go drinking every Friday." Kitty said as she sat down next to Bast. "And between you and me, I think that they may even start dating soon."

Bast looked between Logan and Chelsea and could see the chemistry between them. "You might be right." She nodded. "He seems to have a similar air around him like Chelsea. Was he like, part of some sort of experiment like what HYDRA did to us?"

"Yeah. It was called Veapon X, but Kitty, Logan, Chelsea and I destroyed it." Kurt nodded as he teleported on the arm of the couch. "Va names Kurt, by va way."

Bast smiled as she shook his hand. "Call me Bast."

A few seconds later Gavin, Logan and Chelsea finally stopped arguing, and the scraggly mutant noticed the Institute's new arrival sitting on the couch.

"Who's that?" He asked his blonde companion.

"Oh, that's Bast, one of Chels' old friends." Gavin supplied with a shrug.

Said cat woman slowly got up as she clutched her still sore back. "Nice to meet you Logan, I'm Bast. I can't thank you enough for looking after my friend Chelsea, it really means a lot."

"Not a problem, whiskers. It certainly helps that she's a good drinking buddy." The scraggly man replied with a smirk.

"And you're definitely a good friend 'with benefits'." Chelsea chuckled, nudging Logan in the side. This caused Bast to chuckle as well, but for a different reason. "What?" Chelsea questioned.

"Nothing." The woman smiled.

(Two weeks later)

Bast had finally gotten settled in at the Institute and actually ended up getting a job as the Institute's nurse since she had a good amount of knowledge regarding medicine and medical care. Which really came in handy with a house full of rowdy mutant teenagers.

She and Chelsea had also managed to patch things up after being able to talk to each other about things, though there were still some issues left, but the two women decided to leave it for a later date.

Another thing that happened was how well Bast got along with Ororo and Jean, since the three women shared calm and nurturing personalities and could find they had a lot in common with each other.

Right now though, she was talking to Gavin, who had asked her what all her powers gave her. "So, what can your powers do besides make you look part cat?" He asked.

"Other than enhanced strength, agility, speed and senses? Not much really." Bast replied with a shrug before deploying two sets of retractable claws, which were coated in metal. "Except these. HYDRA thought it'd make me a better fighter if they coated my claws in an alloy of Adamantium and Vibranium. And they even injected the same concoction into my bones too. And ya know how they grafted it onto my claws? They tore them out, with no anesthesia, dipped them in it, and then reinserted them. Same thing with my bones, I got no anesthesia for that either."

"_WHAT?!" _Gavin practically bellowed with fury in his voice.

"Now don't go crazy on me. It may have hurt like hell, but having metal bones has its benefits. For one I'll never get arthritis, and I'll never get a broken bone ever again." The woman told him. "A small silver lining, but it's alright."

"True, but I'm still pissed off." Gavin replied, barely keeping himself from growling.

"I heard, kid. Word is you got a bone to pick with HYDRA too, right?" The woman asked, her tail flicking from side to side.

"More like a whole skeleton." He replied, his fangs deployed. "They were part of the reason the Yashida crime syndicate tried to kill my mother but killed my father by accident. They've tortured those I consider to be my friends, my _family_, and they're Nazis. So yeah, I hate them." He said, going into detail of his vendetta.

Bast stared at him awkwardly before coughing into her hand. "So… Know anything about cars?" She asked, accidentally digging her own grave.

Gavin stared at her like she was an alien before he responded. "Do I know anything about cars? … DO I KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CARS?!" He repeated.

"Uh, yeah, I just asked that." The woman nodded awkwardly.

"Sister, there ain't a guy in Bayville who loves cars more than me. I can tell you about any car you want: History of the brand, different cars made by said brand, what made them popular, tricks to keep up maintenance, anything you wanna know, I know it." The boy said proudly. "After all, I've been around all kinds of cars ever since I was little."

"Okay… Mind if I get your opinion on a car I'm thinking of buying?" She asked.

"What's the model and manufacturer?" The apparent car enthusiast asked professionally.

"It's a 1956 Ford Thunderbird." Bast explained. "It's in really good condition too, and the guy who's selling it is willing to let it go for a decent price."

"How much?" Gavin asked further with a raised eyebrow.

"About $17,070." She answered.

Gavin nodded in approval. "Good catch there, Bast. Most people would have an absurdly high price in mind for a ride like that." He stated.

"Yeah, I've saved up 15,070 so far. And with how much I'm getting from Professor Xavier, I'll probably have enough to buy it in a few weeks at best." Bast smiled. "So do you think I should have the car redone or restored?"

"Personally? I'd have it restored and then have its systems updated, that way it'll be roadworthy." The horror aficionado told her.

"Alright." She nodded in reply.

(About two weeks later)

Bast was now driving down the roads of Bayville in her new car and was currently enjoying the breeze blowing through her hair as she pulled into the driveway of the Institute.

As she got out of her car she went into the Institute and then to the kitchen to get herself a drink. After that was acquired, she went back into the living room where she saw Chelsea and Gavin talking to a platinum blonde woman in a very sexy looking pantsuit.

"Hey guys, who's the blonde bombshell over here?" The cat woman asked.

"Emma Frost, our therapist and counselor." Gavin replied.

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Fatima." Emma smiled at her with that seductive smirk she always had. "I was here for Gavin and Chelsea's usual routine check ups, but would you like to start a session while I'm here?"

"Well, I've given it some thought. And the answer's yes. I haven't gotten any help for my… Experiences with HYDRA yet. You being here is perfect timing." Bast replied before looking at her sternly, her cat-like eyes narrowed. "But no messing with my head more than what's needed, got it? I've had to deal with HYDRA's personal telepathic torturer messing with me and Chelsea's heads for far too long to take chances."

"But of course. No need to worry, I don't pry past the needed points, doing so goes against my hippocratic oath as a psychiatrist." Emma told her.

"Alright, lets get it over with." Bast sighed as she sat down across from the woman. "Go ahead. Work whatever it is you work."

"Very well." The platinum blonde replied before putting her hands on either side of her head. "Calm your mind, and clear your thoughts." She instructed.

The woman took a deep breath and relaxed as the telepath entered her head. Her memories weren't nearly as bad as Chelsea's, but they were still traumatic. In particular there were the times they grafted metal to her bones and claws. Had her fight for her life in a death tournament, be mentally tortured by Kuo the deranged telepath, and spend most of her days treated like an animal. Living in a cage chained to a wall by a shackle collar, having barely any clothes or none at all, being forced to eat and drink out of cat bowls, being led around on a leash while on all fours, and generally being treated like some sort of _pet_.

'_I'm getting tempted to let Gavin kill them all.' _Emma thought in disgust. She then decided to erase 70% of these memories and engrave the rest into her feral instincts. In particular she allowed the experiences to give her one thing: A masochistic pet fetish. This was mainly to help the woman own her experience to make her stronger, and because the blonde found it kinky.

As she pulled back she allowed Bast to snap out of her trance. "Now, how do you feel, Miss Fatima?" Emma asked the woman as she shook herself awake.

"I feel… Slightly empty. Is that normal?" She asked.

"That is to be expected, I erased around 70% of your traumatic memories of HYDRA so it was most likely going to cause some lapses. But it should work itself out within the week." Emma told her. "I will also be coming by every month to check on you, alright?"

"Okay. Thanks for doing this." The cat woman replied with a small smile.

"I'm happy to help. Also, I took the liberty redirecting a few of your memories into an instinctive fetish, I figured they might as well serve some positive purpose for you. So I hope you don't mind." The telepath added.

"Oh, not at all. It… Has a certain rightness to it, actually." Bast replied with a thoughtful look, though her tone did sound sarcastic. '_I'm really not sure if I should really be okay with her changing my preferences, but if it works, it works.' _She thought to herself ruefully.

After this, Emma then left and Chelsea and Bast both went into the kitchen.

"So, have you heard anything about Kai?" The blonde asked, wondering how the youngest of their friend group was doing.

"Yeah, she was actually doing really good, but then she was diagnosed with Leukemia about a year ago." The woman sighed.

"She has cancer?" Chelsea gasped in concern.

"_Had _cancer, she's been in recovery at St. Jude's for about a year now. The doctors say she should be healthy again in a couple months." Bast told her. "Though she's only just now getting over her sister's death… Took her five years, but she's finally coming around."

"Oh good." The dragoness breathed in relief.

"What do you say about bringing her here? I know she's not very trusting of adults, but if you convince her, maybe she can finally start a new life again." The cat woman suggested.

"Say, that actually might not be a bad idea." The Dragoness nodded. "Heck I think she'd love it here. There's even this little kid about her age-"

"You mean little Jamie? Oh I think those two will get along quite well." Bast nodded.

"We're gonna need the Professor's help on this one." Chelsea stated.

"Getting the gang back together, Chels. I think this is the best idea we've had in awhile." The other woman nodded.

"I'll drink to that." The blonde smiled as they toasted and took a sip of their drinks.

(Elsewhere)

-_Bayville Airport-_

Devin disembarked his plane from Japan and slung his duffel bag over his shoulder. It wouldn't be long now, it was finally time he and his brother finally started acting like brothers again.

'_It'll be nice to live those days again.'_ He thought wistfully as he walked. He pulled out his phone and texted Gavin that he'd be there soon, then he dialed his mother's number.

"Mother? Yes it's me, yes, that's right they are dead. I'm fine, I'm going to be staying with Gavin at the Xavier Institute from now on. Yes, I'm glad we can finally be together too. I know, I know. Yes, mother, I will. And mom? I just wanted to say that I love you. Alright, bye." As he hung up he continued his walk forward to his new home, and his new future. The worst was behind him. Now? The best was only to come.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23: Boom-Boom-POW!**

It was morning at the Institute and on the cliffs near it, the New Mutants were doing rescue training with Chelsea, Scott, Logan and Kurt. Scott rappelled down the cliffside where Kurt was pinned under a pile of rocks and was 'unconscious.'

"Confirmed, he's unconscious." The young man said into his com.

"And starving. Hurry it up, vill you? I need my breakfast." Kurt complained.

"Quiet!" Scott hissed, apparently wanting this to be serious. "Okay, send Tabitha down." The shaded teen said into his earpiece.

"Aw man, Boom Boom? You put my life in the hands of a maniac?!" Kurt groaned.

At the top of the cliff, Logan noticed that said girl was just listening to music and not paying attention. Growling a bit, he walked up to her and removed one of the earpieces so she could hear him.

"Hey!" He growled, causing her to snap out of it.

"Hmm, oh sorry, wrong headphones. I'm guessing I'm up right?" The blonde asked as she put the headphones down.

"Yeah." The clawed mutant replied with a sigh. Tabitha walked up to the basket while rubbing a finger under the scraggly man's chin, but a growl from Chelsea made her flinch away and prompt her to just head straight to the basket.

"What's yer deal, scales?" The scraggly mutant asked.

"That's for me to know and for you to stop asking about." The blonde stated irritably. '_Little tramp, I did not sign up to have to deal with kids like her.'_

Tabitha climbed into the basket as it lowered and then started swinging around. "Look out below! Boom Boom's bombing in!" She called as she descended down to Kurt, swinging the basket the whole way.

"I'm gonna die." Kurt groaned as she reached him.

"Hey there cutie, guess I'm your ride." The girl flirted as she bent down to his eye level.

"Okay, I have to ask: Are you insane?" The blue mutant asked.

Tabitha simply just brushed his chin with her finger before she formed a small firecracker in her hand with her powers. "First we need to boom apart these rocks." She said before plugging her ears. "Fire in the hole!" She yelled as the rocks blew up. She then pushed him into the basket with her leg, causing the boy to Yelp in pain. "And into the basket you go."

"Ow! Hey, I'm an injured victim, not a log!" He told her.

"Nightcrawler, Boom Boom, you guys take this seriously already?" Scott barked.

"Okay, okay. Bring it up!" The demolition mutant called up to the top.

As they were being pulled up, Kurt smirked before he rolled off the basket which made Tabitha look down in alarm before he teleported back into it.

"Ha! You forgot to strap me in. Ten points off!" He chided.

"Oh no…" Scott groaned as he started climbing. "This isn't good."

"Alright, blue boy, you asked for it." Boom Boom smirked as she started chucking more fireworks at the cliffs as she continued to rock the rescue basket, one causing a rock to hit the back of the blue mutant's head and making him go unconscious as he slipped from it again.

"Uh oh. Kurt, come on! Joke's over! Get back up here!" She called him, but got no results. Acting fast, Scott blasted the rocks below him before the unconscious teleporter could hit them. After that, Logan jumped off the cliff to get him out of the water before he could drown.

But as the clawed mutant entered the water, he was apparently beaten to the punch by Kurt being surrounded by a very familiar orb of grayish black smoke, which then floated the boy to the surface well enough for him to be _actually _rescued.

As the boy was pulled back up to the top by Logan, the smoke reformed into a very pissed off looking Gavin who was still in his PJs, his bat shaped night mask pulled up to his forehead as he glared daggers at everyone.

"Will you people _please _keep it down?! Some of us are _trying _to sleep! I could hear you through my coffin, for god's sake!" The horror aficionado shouted.

"Sorry 'bout that, Gav. Didn't think you'd be able to hear us." Chelsea apologized to her younger sibling figure.

"Yeah? Well I was able to, and it doesn't help that _someone_ got boom happy!" The cranky boy exclaimed as he glared at Tabitha, who actually looked ashamed of herself. With that, the boy disappeared, most likely to try and get some sleep.

(Later that morning)

After the whole fiasco that morning, Xavier had the group, and Gavin, to meet him in the danger room. The reason he called the pseudo vampire there was to presumably lecture him about his flaring temper. Bast was also giving Kurt a look to make sure he was okay.

"It is situations like these, as well as ensuring your obedience and safety, that we have rules here. And in order to do so, there must be penalties." Xavier explained before sighing as Tabitha just continued to file her nails. "So Tabitha, Kurt, you two will be confined to the Institute for two weeks and will be prohibited from using your powers and will be having training sessions with Logan and Chelsea two times a day."

"Wha-" Tabitha tried to protest before Kurt put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes Professor, ve understand." The boy nodded.

"That's all fine and dandy Prof, but I still don't see why you had to haul _my _ass outta bed for this bullshit." Gavin hissed angrily.

"The reason I called you here, Gavin, is because of your disregard for handling your temper." Xavier explained. "If you aren't willing to do so, then there will be penalties for you as well."

"Look Prof, I'm already having to bend over backwards because of my seals, so I'm not gonna twist myself into a pretzel just because some people can't handle a short fuse." The boy snapped.

"And that's what's leading to your disregarding of handling your temper? You feel frustrated by all of this?" The elder man questioned.

"That, and I'm just naturally hotheaded. It's genetic, I get it from my mom's side of the family." He replied with a shrug.

Xavier sighed. "Then perhaps we could have you do meditation exercises with Jean and Ororo after school?" He suggested.

"It… Might work, but I don't know if I can sit still long enough for it to work." Gavin replied with uncertainty.

"At least give it a try." Charles sighed.

"Fine." The boy huffed in annoyance.

(Elsewhere)

At the Brotherhood's boarding home, everyone was trying to find something to eat, well, except Toad, who was currently catching flies that buzzed around the trash.

"Mmm house flies, nothing like a balanced breakfast." The boy chuckled as Pietro dashed around the room.

"Aw man! The cabinets are bare, and falling apart!" Frowned the silver haired speedster as he opened a cabinet and it fell off.

"What we need right now is some serious corn, and I know just where to get it." The amphibian based mutant grinned as he hopped towards Mystique's room… And couldn't even open the door. The impact of him crashing into it caused him to tumble down the stairs.

Before he could get to it again though, there was a knock on the door. As Pietro opened it there stood none other than Devin Shirakumo at the door, extra empty luggage bags in hand.

"What're you doing here?" The fast talker sneered.

"Collecting what few things I have left here. I'm moving out." The Japanese metal mutant replied with a stone faced look.

"By all means then, go ahead." Pietro said while letting him in. Devin did so and as he started to get his stuff, he saw Toad struggling to get the door to Mystique's room open again.

Taking pity on the shorter boy, he turned his hand into a mace and pushed him aside. "Allow me." With one swing he demolished the door and sent the imitation particle board all over the place, revealing the shapeshifter's former room and its contents before returning to packing his things.

While he was doing that, the four boys looked in Mystique's room and were surprised when they found what can only be described as a royal bedroom. There were even a pair of chandeliers on the ceiling.

With that done Devin turned to the boys and smirked at them as he gathered his things. "You're welcome." He said as he then turned around and left.

(Elsewhere)

Tabitha was walking down the hall to her social studies class, when she was suddenly approached by someone, this someone being her father. The blonde kept trying to get him to leave her alone, and he refused. Luckily for her though, Gavin had happened to walk by the two and shoulder bash the man into some lockers.

"This guy bothering you, Tabby?" He asked her.

"Yep. Thanks for getting him off my back." She replied with a smile.

The man glared at the boy as he got up. "You're in my way, kid. I'm trying to speak to my daughter." He stated.

Gavin hissed at him as he flashed his fangs. "Piss off pal, I don't care who you are. Stay away from here and us or else, I'm in a really bad mood today so don't push me."

The man glared at him before he turned his gaze to Tabitha. "Tabby, come on. Your mother and I are trying to work things out., but we need you there to help." He 'pleaded.'

This pissed Gavin off even more than he already was. Grabbing the blonde's father by the shirt collar he slammed him into one of the lockers and got up close and personal with him.

"What part of leave don't you understand, dickless? Are you _trying _to piss me off or are you just dumb? Get out of here before things start to get bloody, _now_." The pseudo vampire hissed, fangs dripping with saliva as he was almost foaming at the bit.

Sweating nervously, he just nodded before Gavin let him go. The elder Smith ran as fast as his legs could move, wanting to get away as fast as possible. He wasn't done yet, though.

He'd be heading to the Institute next.

Later on, Gavin decided to sit with Risty and Rogue at lunch, and as he was doing so, he decided to ask his southern belle friend something he had wanted to ask ever since he found out about the school carnival.

"Hey Rogue?" The boy asked nervously, his cheeks turning a shade of pink. Said girl looked at him and raised an eyebrow when she noted his pink cheeks, but decided to leave that alone.

"Yeah?" She responded, Risty looking at the two with interest for what would happen next.

"I, uh… Well, I was wondering if you… Would maybe like to go to the… Carnival with me this weekend?" He asked her nervously.

Rogue seemed a little surprised at what he had just asked her. "Wait, are you askin' me out, Gavin?" She asked.

"N-no, nothing like that! It's just… I never had any chances at carnival fun, growing up. I want someone to be there with me to make it a moment worth remembering." He explained. It was true. He couldn't have any fun at the carnival since his mother was worried about numerous things happening to him back then, with kidnapping being one of them.

This caused the auburn haired girl to look at him sadly, like one would a small puppy or kitten that's been left out in the rain. "Okay… Sure, if it'll make you feel better, Ah'll go." She nodded.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. You two should definitely go together, it'll be good for both of you." Risty nodded in agreement.

"What about you?" Gavin asked. He may have wanted to be alone with Rogue, but he also didn't want their friend to be left out either.

"Are you sure you want me there with you two? Three's a crowd, you now." The British girl replied with uncertainty in her voice.

"Well it's just I don't want you to be left out." The boy told her.

"Aw, thanks love, but I'll be fine. Besides, I already told Kitty I'd go with her." She cooed with a smile, causing the pseudo vampire to blink.

"...Oh! Okay. Have fun, tonight." Gavin said in surprise before quickly calming down.

"Same to you. You two have fun out there, alright?" The girl smirked, giving the two a wink.

"Count on it… Though I do hope I don't lose my dinner because of one of the rides." Gavin replied before muttering that last part to himself.

"What was that?" Rogue asked, not hearing what he was saying.

"Nothing serious. Just me hoping that something unpleasant doesn't happen." The horror fan replied, waving her off.

(Later)

At the Institute Bast was currently walking back into the Institute with some medical supplies and groceries when she saw Xavier talking to someone who she didn't recognize.

"You have no parental authority here, Mr. Smith. Tabitha's mother gave us specific instructions as to your visitations, So I'll have to ask you to leave." Xavier said as he started to turn away.

"You think I don't know what kind of freak show this place is? Let me see my daughter or I'll have the news teams here tonight." He threatened as he grabbed the sides of the man's wheelchair, though was stopped by Bast shoving him away with a swing of her bags.

"Back off!" She snapped.

"Those hands of yours? I'm thinking of relocating 'em, like in a jar on my dresser." Logan said as he entered the room with Chelsea behind him, his claws deployed. The Dragoness turned her eyes draconic as scales appeared on her face, fangs and claws growing as well.

"I second that, then maybe I can barbecue 'em and we can feed him to the reptiles." She grinned while licking her teeth with her forked tongue. "Or just feed 'em to me."

Before anything else could be said the door opened and closed. Everyone looked and saw Gavin, Rogue and Tabitha entering the building. Mr. Smith grinned slightly before he dragged his daughter off elsewhere… Or at least, he tried to.

Gavin had used his smoke to grab Bloodfallen and pointed it at the man's neck. "You have exactly three seconds to give me a good reason not to drive this sword through your throat." He snapped.

"Gavin, stand down." Xavier ordered. Gavin looked at the Professor before sending one last glare at Mr. Smith before sheathing Bloodfallen and walking away.

Xavier then gave the man a stern look. "You have five minutes. Any longer and I will have my instructors show you out." Was all he told him.

Sighing, Tabitha led her father to a room where they could talk without being interrupted. Outside said area, Gavin was practically foaming at the mouth.

"What. The. Actual. _Fuck_?! That guy's been harassing Tabitha all fucking day, and you're just gonna let them be in the same room together?!" He growled and hissed angrily as he punched a wall, causing it to crack.

"Gavin, why are you so worked up over this? Is there something I need to know?" Charles asked.

"You're the telepath, Prof, you tell me." The boy stated sarcastically. When the man only gave him a stern look, he started to scratch his scalp in aggravation and growl as he paced around the room, his long black hair whipped around as he did so.

"He's one of those parents that wants to use their kid's powers for their own personal gain." Gavin stated. "I know because I've dealt with those same types of people. Me and Devin were constantly being put through tests to determine the extent of our powers by an organization that my mom answered to called SHIELD, and they constantly threatened to have her custody taken away if she didn't comply. We were always forced to do what they told us, and even when Devin was taken away from us, he had to endure the same situation with the Yakuza. _This_ is the exact same thing, Prof!" He ranted.

The bald man intertwined his fingers in thought. He was aware that there were those that would seek to use their children's powers for their own benefit- he had seen a few cases himself. As such, he knew that he needed to be careful when dealing with this.

Chelsea, Logan, Bast and Rogue meanwhile all looked at the boy in sympathy. It seemed like even after all this time, they truly didn't know everything about him. Rogue walked up to him and hugged him tightly, wanting to comfort him while Chelsea took the less invasive route and just stroked his head reassuringly and the other two just put their hands on his shoulders, giving him looks of understanding while Xavier spoke again.

"I see. Thank you for sharing this Gavin, I'm glad that we're finally managing to get you to open up more about your feelings." Xavier told him. "Now, I think it's best you took some time to cool off? Perhaps getting yourself something cool to drink to calm your nerves?"

"Oh man, I could go for some ice water right now." Gavin moaned in bliss at the thought. He and Rogue then went into the kitchen along with the other three and got themselves something to drink.

The pseudo vampire shakily drank his water as it slowly started to help him calm down, only to notice that all four of the other pairs of eyes were staring at him.

"What?" The boy asked, feeling weird from the staring.

"Are you sure you're okay right now?" Rogue felt the need to ask.

"I will be after you guys stop staring and asking me about it." He said irritably as he drank some more water.

"Kid, stop being such a little ass." Logan said in a gruff tone. "We just wanna help ya is all." He added.

"And I'm glad that you do, but sometimes a person needs time to simmer down a bit before they're ready to talk about anything. Until then, giving them some space so they can clear their thoughts is the best you can do." Gavin said with a touch of wisdom painting his voice, making the others blink in surprise.

"Where'd you hear that?" Chelsea asked.

"Ms. Munroe told me that. It made sense to me, at least." He shrugged.

Rogue then took this opportunity to take Gavin's hand. "Well we're here for you when you're ready to talk. Besides, you said you know me better than anyone, so I think it's my job to do the same thing with you."

"Yeah kiddo, like you said, we're just as much your family as your brother and mother are now, so if you need us, we got you." His blonde sister figure added.

"Ditto." Bast nodded.

"Damn right there, Scales." Logan nodded as well. Gavin looked at them before he smiled.

"Thanks, guys." He told them.

(Later)

It was the night of the carnival and Gavin was now walking around it with Rogue, the two had just stopped at a cotton candy stand so the boy could buy some for them.

"One of the biggest you got please." He asked as his white gloved hand handed the man behind the booth some money. Despite him being in his usual attire he still had to wear his seal gloves as a precaution due to his seals still being rather new, which irritated him.

"You got it, kid." The vendor replied before he got to work. As the man handed him the candy. "And I made sure it's plenty for both of you. You kids enjoy it, alright?" The man said with a knowing smile.

This caused Gavin to blush as he turned and held the candy on a cone out for Rogue to share with him as they continued to walk. "Here." He offered, though still blushing.

Rogue smiled before she took two bites out of it. "Thanks." She said, her smile still in place.

The horror lover couldn't help but let out an internal sigh of longing as the two continued to share the cotton candy. He thought it was great that he could finally be alone with Rogue again. But at the same time he still couldn't believe that Risty didn't want to come with them. In fact it seemed as though every time he wanted to try and attempt to further his relationship with Rogue, she didn't just approve of it, she _encouraged _it. It honestly seemed a little… Odd to him if he was being honest.

Once they had finished their sugary treat, they decided to wait a bit before they went on any rides to let it digest. Losing what you just ate because of absurd speeds didn't sound pleasant to them.

As they sat together at a picnic table and drank some sodas, Gavin took notice of Rogue's current outfit: It was her usual gloves, with a purple tank top with wide straps that showed her midriff, a lighter purple blouse that showed her pail shoulders, a pair of navy blue jeans with holes torn in the knees and lastly a pair of black Chuck Taylors sneakers.

"So, what do you think the others are doing here?" The horror enthusiast asked. "You look nice, by the way."

"Thanks. And I'm not sure but-but Ah think Ah may know two people who are doing something they shouldn't be." Rogue said as she noticed two familiar faces.

"Who?" He asked. Rogue just pointed behind the boy as he turned around and then saw Tabitha and Kurt stumbling out to one of the rides that had just suddenly 'malfunctioned'. Gavin then groaned as he facepalmed. "Great… Just great…" He uttered in dismay.

That's when they noticed Tabitha looking in another direction and saw her father standing near the bleachers across the way. Seeing the man instantly made Gavin's blood boil in his veins.

When Rogue saw her friend get angry, she looked in the direction he was facing and immediately figured out why. She quickly put her hand on Gavin's to get his attention.

"Gavin, no. Not here." She said seriously.

"We need to get the others." He told her coldly. She didn't like how cold he was, but nodded nonetheless.

"Ah'll go get Kitty while you go grab Scott. See if you can get Evan on the way." Rogue ordered. The boy nodded as he dissolved into smoke and then went to find the others, knowing that time was more than likely of the essence. Rogue, meanwhile, started walking up to Kurt. Hoping to get answers out of him.

(Elsewhere, minutes later)

Tabitha was now being cornered by the Brotherhood after she had just tried to stop her dad from taking the school's money. When Toad was about to steal the bag of cash from her, there was a loud *bong* sound as a sledge hammer hit the boy on the back of the head. As the amphibious mutant fell unconscious, it was revealed to be Devin who struck him. But before Tabitha could say anything, he just made a motion for her to be quiet as he turned into his liquid state and slipped away without another word.

A moment later, Gavin arrived with Rogue, Scott, Jean and Evan right behind him. Upon laying eyes on Mr. Smith, he glared bullets at him.

"You are _so_ dead!" Gavin yelled as he ran towards the man. Mr. Smith quickly forced the bag of money and pushed Tabitha to the ground as he ran, with the pseudo vampire right on his tail.

After a bit, the chase ended up on the (rather unstable) roof of the ruined gym. As soon as the elder Smith took three steps, the ground under him suddenly gave way.

As the man struggled to get back up, he dropped the money, and Gavin now stood over him with both his guns pointed at the man.

"The way I see it you have three choices: You let the money go and I shoot your ass with a couple magazines of stun bullets before turning you into the police, you take the money and fall to your death like the hopeless and greedy sack of shit you are, or you take my hand and give me the money and I still let you fall for pissing me off so many times." The boy told him. "So, what'll it be, dirt bag?" He challenged him.

The greedy man seemed to think it over before lunging for the bag, the action causing the ground underneath him to give way and let him fall. Gavin watched as he fall before Kurt teleported up and saved him… Only to get smacked for it in return. The act caused Gavin to facepalm.

"Should've seen that coming." He muttered before he turned into smoke and went to the ground floor just in time to see Tabitha giving chase to her father.

(Later)

Hours later, Tabitha's father was thrown in jail and the girl ended up leaving the Institute soon after. This made everyone feel pretty bad, especially Kurt, who had actually started to like her.

Gavin, meanwhile, was sitting on top of his coffin while feeding Brownie, who was on his shoulder, when a knock came on his door.

"It's open." He called out to the one who wished for entry. It soon was revealed to be Rogue, who walked inside and sat next to him as she stroked Brownie's head with one finger.

"Hey." She greeted him.

"Hey." He nodded as she sat next to him.

"So, all that just happened… How're ya holding up? Ah know it must be pretty hard since you knew what was happening and couldn't do anything about it." The southern girl said.

"Tell me about it." The boy sighed in aggravation, slumping forward. "It's one of the few things that I just can't stand. Not being able to do anything to help those that I care about, it drives me crazy!"

Rogue looked at him with sympathetic eyes and hugged the boy as his pet bat nuzzled his cheek. "Ah know, Gav, Ah know." She told him. As the two separated she gave him a smile while her arms were still wrapped around his shoulders.

"But no matter what's happened, Ah had a great time tonight." The girl smiled at him as she kissed him on the cheek, leaving a purple lipstick mark on his cheek before she got up.

Gavin blushed as he put his hand to his cheek. "Uh, sure, m-me too." He stuttered as she opened the door.

"Well, see you tomorrow." She said while waving goodbye. "Good night."

"Yeah, g-good night." The pseudo vampire nodded as he watched her leave, his hand still on his cheek where her lipstick still could be seen.

Gavin sighed. He wasn't going to forget that particular action anytime soon. The boy crawled into his coffin after getting ready for bed, and his mind was focused on one thing as he fell asleep: How much he was in love with Anna Marie, Aka Rogue.

(Elsewhere)

-_Tampa Bay, Florida, St. Jude's Children Hospital-_

In one of the hospital suites of the St. Jude's Cancer Research Hospital For Children, a young girl around 14 was sitting in a hospital bed as her IV was still connected to her right hand. A crochet knit cap was over her head to protect her currently bald head from the cold air of the hospital.

The girl was a Hawaiin girl, with dark brown hair and skin with native islander features, and forest green eyes. She also had a Hawaiian tattoo of a shark on the back of her neck.

This was Kai, and she was the youngest of Chelsea's friend group. She was watching TV in her hospital bed when a nurse walked in.

"Kai, sweetheart, it's time for your next round of Chemo. Are you ready?" The nurse asked her.

Kai groaned a bit at the mention of Chemo, but choked it up. "Yeah… Let's do it." She replied with a sigh.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24: He ʻOhana Mākou (We Are Family)**

It was early in the morning before school about a week after the whole Boom Boom debacle, and for the most part, everything was finally getting back to normal. The students were still a bit sad that Tabitha left, but understood why, doesn't mean they had to like it though. Now they were walking around half asleep, getting their breakfast, juice, and coffee, trying to scarf as much down as possible.

"Uh, I'm so tired I feel like I'm seeing things." Kurt said, rubbing his eyes.

"Oh yeah, what makes you say that?" Kitty tainted as she grabbed cereal from one of the cabinets.

"Eh, thought I saw someone jump over the fence and walk towards the institute." He shrugged with a yawn.

"Uh, what?" Scott asked, as he looked out the window towards the gates, then dropped the piece of toast he was eating. "Kurt, you weren't seeing things, that's Devin from the Brotherhood!"

"What?" Everyone suddenly said as the boy went from view, a few seconds later, there was a knock on the door.

Everyone followed the teachers to the door where Devin stood there, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder and several suitcases beside him. He seemed to be almost bored as he stood there.

"Devin? What are you doing here?" Gavin asked.

"Wait, who is this kid?" Bast asked.

"He's Gavin's twin brother, he's been in Japan for the past month." Chelsea explained.

Devin ignored the other two and looked at Gavin. "Well, brother, you did say that if I ever wanted to join the X-men after I sorted everything out that I needed, I should come here." He explained as he stretched his arms out. "And, well, here I am." He then turned to the rest of the X-men. "I have come to join the X-men."

"Pppffffffffft!" Everyone turned to Evan, who was trying to keep himself from laughing. "YOU, want to be an X Man?!"

"Yes." Devin replies flatly.

"Right, and I want to be the tooth fairy." Logan said sarcastically, causing everyone to chuckle.

Devin glared at everyone in the doorway. "I'm serious. Do you need proof?"

"Kinda do kid." Chelsea said.

"Bug off Marks." Gavin growled as he got between the two. He then turned to the others. "And the rest of you, are you all so near sighted that you're not willing to let someone who wants to be better join us? I know Devin is sincere, because he _told _me!"

Everyone backed up, noticing the anger in the boy's voice. Xavier was the next to speak up. "While I do not appreciate your tone Gavin, I understand you. If you say your brother is sincere, then I'm willing to believe you."

Devin sighed. "You don't have to fight my battles for me Gavin." He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What kind of brother would I be if I didn't?" Gavin said.

Everyone looked at the two, then shrugged. "Come on." Scott told Devin. As they all walked inside to finish breakfast, Bast decided to ask the boy something.

"So hold on, why did you decide to leave the Brotherhood and join us?" She asked the boy as they all ate.

"Why? Well that's easy, it's because I didn't need them anymore." The boy stated bluntly.

"Well you sure are blunt." Chelsea said under her breath.

"It's because Magneto said he'd make my powers fully realized. And when he made them fully enhanced, I basically no longer needed them anymore. So I instead decided to find something else to do. I needed a new direction, a new point to focus my energy into." Devin clarified. "So I spent the past month investigating what happened to me and Gavin's father. And now that that's done, I need to find something else."

This seemed to answer Bast's question, but Chelsea was still curious. "Okay, but don't you and Gav, like, hate each other or something?" She asked.

"No, he's my brother, I could never hate him. I just... Hated being in his shadow all the time. Think of our past relationship as like a sibling rivalry, that basically resulted in us always throwing fists." The boy shrugged.

"I can understand that." Chels muttered under her breath.

Gavin looked at his brother, eyebrows furrowing. "In my shadow? Dev, I never meant-"

"Don't even try to make an excuse," Devin said sharply. "You always tried to show me up in everything. And even when my mutation developed, and I thought I had had the chance to finally be better than you, I found out you had your own set of powers, once again better than mine."

"I..." Gavin was quiet for a minute. "I wasn't trying to show you up, I just wanted to make you proud enough to call me your brother."

Devin looked at him with a look of annoyance. "Well if that was your plan, then it certainly backfired didn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it did..." the boy nodded sadly before getting up. "I'll... be in my room." He said before he left to go upstairs.

Bast couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid. "Don't you think you could've worded that a little better?" The woman asked Devin.

"Why should he? The kid's just saying what's on his mind, Honestly Gav just needs to stop taking things so goddamn personally." Chelsea countered sternly.

"Chelsea!" Hissed Ororo and Jean, the two not liking how insensitive the woman's words were.

"What? I'm just being honest." Chelsea said with a shrug. "The more he lets stuff get to him, the more he's gonna hurt in life. It won't get him far."

"I will agree with the dragon woman." Devin said coldly. "If I had let my emotions control me, I would have never finished my business in Japan."

Storm stepped forward looking down at both mutants with her piercing blue eyes. "Gavin cares deeply about this team and those in his life. His habit of 'taking things personally', although dangerous with his powers, has also led to many successes."

"Like nearly destroying us on Asteroid M? Like slaughtering those Hydra agents on the lawn of the Institute?" Chelsea sneered baring her teeth. "Yeah, some real good there."

"He what?" Devin asked, surprised.

"It's a long story." Ororo explained. "But his emotions are what makes him different from his other levels. He cares for everyone in the institute like family. Something I recommend you _both _begin to do."

Devin was quiet for a minute, he hated it when people acted like he didn't have emotions. He was always taught to hide them, and he did, so well in fact that most people mistook him for as unfeeling as the metal his mutation turned him into.

Perhaps now that was finally starting to catch up with him. "... You're right." He sighed heavily.

"What?" Everyone questioned.

"I have been acting unfeeling too much in my life, in fact, I'm certain that it's one of the reasons why Gavin and I have had such a strained relationship." He sighed, before looking at his reflection in the glass of water he was drinking. "I think it's about time I finally started to change that about myself, for both my sake and his."

He then got up and then looked at Chelsea. "I'm going to go talk to him. And, Chelsea was it?"

"Yeah." The blonde nodded.

"While I do agree with you, too much emotion isn't healthy, neither is hiding it all. I think that's a lesson we both indeed should learn." He said before he left to go find Gavin.

Everyone was quiet for the most part, at least until Logan decided to say something to Chelsea as they cleaned up the kitchen (it was their turn this week).

"Ororo had a point, Scales. Ya keep acting way too blunt with Smokey, I honestly thought you guys were closer than that. Not to sound hypocritical but to an outsider looking in, it'd seem like you don't care about him at all." The clawed mutant said as they washed the dishes, causing the Dragoness to accidentally crush one of the glasses in anger and surprise.

"What's _that _supposed to mean? You think I _don't _care about him? What kind of bullshit are you spouting?" The woman hissed.

"What I'm saying is that you need to be more careful and thoughtful about what you say. If ya don't, you'll be doing more harm than good." Logan explained. "There's a difference between tough love and just being an ass ya know. You don't wanna end up acting like your parents, do you?"

Chelsea sighed angrily as she dried her hands off. "No, I don't." She replied. "It's just… Difficult is all. But I'll try to be a little less rough around the kid… I'm just trying to help him."

"I know Chels, I know." Logan told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, let's go to Hogan's and shoot a few rounds of pool to get your mind off of things."

"Good Idea." The blonde nodded.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was currently in his room, hanging upside down from his chandelier with Brownie doing the same while he threw darts at a dart board he had on his wall, which had all the members of the brotherhood all over it and the symbol of HYDRA in the bullseye spot.

He threw another dart and managed to hit the HYDRA symbol dead-center. Another hit the picture of Lance, while another hit the one of Pietro. Before he could throw another one, there was a knock at his door.

Dropping from the chandelier he did a superhero landing and Brownie flew onto his shoulder as he opened the door, seeing that Devin was on the other side.

"What?" The pseudo vampire asked as he turned away from his brother and started getting his school stuff.

"Do you have a moment to talk?" Devin asked his brother.

"You sure? I thought you said you didn't wanna be 'caught in my shadow'?" The boy said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"I didn't mean it like that, it's just… I want to be seen as my own person and feel like I actually am that way. You and your powers made me feel like that would never happen." The younger of the two explained.

"Well, there's definitely no way you'll be confused with me now." Gavin said as he moved past his brother, but was stopped when Devin did something unexpected: The metal mutant hugged him. Gavin looked back at his younger brother with a surprised expression, not expecting something like this to happen.

"I don't expect things to be better overnight, but, I want to at least try and repair the years of damage our situation has caused to our and mother's relationship. I just hope you're willing to try too." Was all Devin could say.

Gavin's eyes softened before he returned the hug. "Yeah… I am." Was his reply.

"Good." His brother smiled as Brownie joined in and they all continued to hug for a few minutes before leaving for school.

(Elsewhere)

Bast was currently in Xavier's office with Chelsea and right now she was telling the telepath of the youngest member of their friend group, a Hawaiian girl named Kai who had a water manipulation mutation. One who was currently receiving treatment at Tampa Bay St. Jude's hospital for Leukemia.

"How long has she been under treatment so far?" Xavier asked.

"About a year. The doctors say she'll be finished two weeks from now." The cat woman said. "I'm pretty sure that they also removed her tracker, but I'm not really sure."

"And can you tell me anything else about her?" Xavier questioned. "Like for example, how she is with new environments or people?"

"She isn't very trusting to new adults, especially scientists. However, if the kids are nice enough she'll warm up to them real quick, especially Amara, since she'd probably fill the void caused by the death of her sister, Pele." Bast explained.

"Hm… Yes, that is rather important. I'll have to warn Logan and possibly Gavin to be careful around her." The Professor mused.

"Also, maybe have Jamie be the one to show her around? She gets nervous around guys older than her and I think it'd be nice for her to meet a boy her age." Bast added.

The telepathic man nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a good idea, I must say. It would help them both grow." He said.

"Plus, let's face it: It's about time little Jamie met a girl his age, anyway." The Arabic woman chuckled.

"Yes, I do believe we can agree on that." Xavier nodded.

(Elsewhere)

-_Bayville High, Principal Kelly's office-_

Devin and Gavin were sitting in Edward Kelly's office at school, and both were trying to explain why Devin had taken a two month leave of absence from school.

"You see, Principal, Dev had to go back to Japan to help the police in the investigation of the murder of our grandparents. And had to get all his stuff so he could move in with me at the Xavier Institute." Gavin explained.

"And this is supposed to be good enough for leaving without even notifying me, because…?" The Principal prodded.

"Because I was the next of kin, and on top of that the custody papers had to be finalized so I wasn't going to be able to come to school until everything was settled, there was just too much red tape." Devin chimed in.

Kelly sighed, realizing that priding any further would be too much of a headache. "Fine, fine, I'll inform your teachers. Gavin, get to class, as for you Devin, since you've attended before I assume you won't need a guide." He then pressed a button on the phone on his desk, moments later a girl walked in.

The girl looked to be around sixteen like him, but she also looked a little odd. She was around 5 '7 ``, had odd looking gray skin, pearl white eyes, and long presumably red hair (though it was obviously dyed hot pink) which was tied up in a fishtail braid. Figure wise, she was pretty attractive looking girl with a curvaceous body and slim muscles with just the right amount of body fat/mass in just the right places, giving her a set of gorgeous hips, beautiful well built legs and a nice medium sized peach shaped ass with an equally nice and bouncy C-cup rack to match.

Attire wise she was wearing a plain black t-shirt with torn off sleeves, a pair of torn cut off white jeans, a hot pink leather jacket, a pair of black fingerless gloves and a pair black and pink heelys.

Needless to say she was an exotic looking bombshell in a teenager's body. Kelly gestured to the girl. "This is Roxanne Styles, she's new here, and I was hoping you'd walk her to both of your first classes." The man told Devin.

"Of course." Devin replied. The boy walked up to the girl and she didn't seem to even make a move to indicate she noticed him. Feeling like she ignored him as they walked out of the office, he waved a hand in front of her face, as if to test her sight, and got only a slight response before she smacked him. She paused before she winced, as if she forgot to say something.

"Sorry, I should've let you know my eyesight's bad." She apologized.

"It's fine, Roxanne." The boy assured her.

"Please call me Roxy." The girl said as they walked to class together. As they walked, they both talked about things, and then Roxy asked something that caught him off guard. "So, have you ever heard of mutants?" She asked in a lower tone.

Devin looked at her in surprise before glancing around to see if anyone was nearby. Not seeing anyone, he leaned in and whispered his response into her ear.

"I _am _one." He whispered.

"Cool! So am I." Roxy smiled.

That made Devin recoil once more in surprise. Of all the things for her to say in response to his answer, that wasn't one of them.

"You are?" He asked.

"It's part of the reason why my skin is gray and my sight is so bad. I have a sixth sense kinda like a scorpion, and I also have these." She then flicked her wrists and deployed two barbs from under them. "Toxic stingers."

"That explains the scorpion braid." Devin nodded as she sheathed the barbs.

"Yeah, it kinda does. And no, I don't have a pet scorpion." She chuckled.

"I wasn't going to ask that." The Metal Mutant said frankly.

"Oh." Was all the girl said in reply.

(Elsewhere)

_-Tampa Bay, Florida-_

A black Cadillac pulled into the front of Florida's St. Judes Children's Hospital. As it rolled to a stall, a young valet driver stepped up to the window.

He cocked his hat to the driver (who happened to be Chelsea) with a smile. "Hello Ma'am, will you be doing valet parking today?"

Chelsea smiled back at him. "It's the reason I'm here in front of you kiddo. But hold on one second." She got out and from the trunk pulled out a wheelchair, rolling it over to one of the back doors, from which Prof. Xavier pulled himself into the chair. From the other side, Bast stepped out, adjusting a scarf around her head to hide her pointed ears.

"Don't scratch it up." Chelsea remarked as she tossed the keys to the valet before joining Charles and Bast who were going up the front ramp.

After receiving the room number for the person they would be visiting they entered the elevator, traveling up to one of the highest floors. In the corner of the elevator, Bast nervously picked at her claws. This being a nervous habit she had developed years ago and never kicked.

"Bast, there is nothing to worry about," Charles reassured her as she caught a glance at her expression.

"I know it's just... What if she hates us? What if she resents us for abandoning her?" The cat-like woman wondered.

"She won't," Chelsea said, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Bast, you made the right call taking her to a youth home. We couldn't provide for her, not after what happened to Pele."

"We don't know what she lived through though. What if HYDRA tried to come after her like they did us? We never did find out if they removed her tracker." Under her headscarf, her pointed ears began to visibly twitch. "What if she was abused or-or-"

The dragoness rolled her eyes. "Bast! It's okay! She's okay... Well, minus the cancer that is..."

"Besides, Fatima, I spoke to her foster parents and they both seem like good people." Charles smiled at her. "And from the sounds of things, she's lived with them the longest out of any other family. So I suppose she's been moved around a lot."

"Which means HYDRA would have had difficulty finding her." Chelsea concluded as the doors of the elevator opened and they walked into the hall. "Look, everything is going to be okay. She's finally going to be okay." As they made their way down the hall they finally came to the room of the designated mutant they were there to visit. In the bed sat a girl reading a book, around 14, with tan skin and pacific islander features, except for her eyes which shone like sea green, she was wearing a knit cap on her head. Charles knocked on her door. "Miss Kai?"

"Yes?" She looked up, obviously on guard. From behind the man, Chelsea and Bast stepped out, and Kai's eyes widened. "Oh my god! Bast?! Chelsea?!"

"Hey kiddo." The dragoness said, as her Arabic friend ran past her and enveloped the young girl in a hug.

"We missed you, 'Ishraq." Bast whispered the old nick-name a she held Kai close to her. "We were so worried and-and..." She fell silent as she looked into her adoptive younger sister's eyes. "...Can you ever forgive us?"

Kai pursed her lips as she looked down. "I thought I was a burden on you guys..."

"No, no honey you weren't," Bast said solemnly as she held her close. "We didn't know what we were doing. We thought finding you a home would be the best thing for you. After..." She fumbled for the words again.

"After Pele, we were all broken." Chelsea stepped forward to explain. "But by far you took her death the hardest. It wasn't fair to keep dragging you around while you were trying to recover and mourn her. We thought we were doing the right thing."

Kai was silent for a few seconds before nodding. "I know, it took me some time to realize it but, I get that now." She then looked at the two as she hugged them. "And I forgive you guys."

Both women smiled before they separated and turned to Xavier. "Kai, this is Charles Xavier. He runs the school that we work at." Bast said.

"A place for gifted children like yourself." The man nodded.

"And it's full of kids your age." Chelsea added.

"Really?" Kai asked nervously. "Is it... safe?"

"Beyond safe." Bast nodded.

"And you're more than welcome to live there with us so you can better learn to use your gifts." Xavier added. "And we will also schedule you counseling to help you adjust to your new environment as well as help further your recovery, mentally speaking of course."

"Translation: Help you get past your abuse issues." Bast clarified. "And trust us, the lady who does it is a miracle worker."

"I can vouch for that." Chelsea nodded before turning to Kai again as the two met eyes. "Whaddya say kiddo? Wanna come back with us?" The blonde dragoness asked her.

The girl was quiet for a minute or two, as if mulling it over. She had been moving from place to place, family to family for so long it had become normal to her. It wasn't until she was put with her current family that she had been permanently in one place, which was nice, especially since her birth parents had died from HYDRA finishing them off years ago.

Her current family had given her the love and help she needed to move on, and had even helped her through her current predicament. But now… The people who she had called her family for so many years were here, and they wanted her to come with them, it was like she was dreaming.

Another minute passed before she spoke. "...Yes! I've missed you two so much!" She replied with a happy look in her eyes.

Chelsea and Bast smiled as they walked to her and gave her a group hug, the younger girl eagerly hugging back. She had missed moments like these, and now it seemed like she would get more of them in the future. Things were finally looking up for her.

"Well then, if you wish to come live at the Institute, I will speak with your foster parents and have them fill out the necessary forms. In the meantime, I suggest you focus on recovering." Xavier nodded.

That's when Bast remembered something. "Kai, sweetie, did you make sure to get your tracker removed?" She asked.

Kai nodded. "Yeah, the doctors saw it in one of my MRIs and decided to have it removed and destroyed. They thought I may've been part of a human trafficking ring." She replied.

"Well, at least it's gone." The dragoness sighed.

"Visiting hours are almost over, we should be on our way." Xavier told the two women.

Bast sighed before she kissed Kai on the forehead. "See you later 'Ishraq, get better soon, okay?"

"I will." Kai nodded as she looked at Chelsea, who held out a fist.

"Knock this cancer dead, alright?" She told her.

"Right." The girl nodded while fist bumping her before the three left.

(Two weeks later)

At the Institute everyone was arriving home from school ready for the start of the weekend, and they were suddenly surprised when the X-Van rolled up with a trailer of stuff behind it as it parked in the driveway. The teachers and students all ran out to the front yard to see what was going on.

"Vhat's going on?" Kurt asked as he looked at the X-Van and the trailer it was pulling.

"I heard it's a new arrival, a girl apparently, she's around Jamie's age I think." Kitty told the blue fuzz ball.

That's when the car door opened up and Chelsea and Bast along with a girl near Jamie's age. It was Kai, and she was wearing a Miami Dolphins baseball cap, along with some orange shorts, a canary yellow top, and a pair of yellow tennis shoes.

"Who's that?" Jamie asked, after hearing about the girl that everyone was talking about, he wanted to know who she was.

"No clue." Gavin shrugged, Devin doing the same. "But my guess is she's one of Chelsea's friends.

All three girls walked up to the group and Bast decided to introduce Kai to them since the girl seemed a little shy. "Everyone, this is Kai, she's a friend of ours who'll be becoming a student here." She told them.

Everyone looked at the girl and waved at her and gave their best welcoming faces. Well everyone except Rogue, but that's to be expected, that wasn't really her thing.

"Hey there Kai." They all said.

"Hi, I'm, uh, looking forward to staying here with you guys." The girl said with a nervous smile.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25: It's all fun and games until…**

Devin and Gavin were inside the garage of the Institute and were currently working on Gavin's car, which was in need of a periodic tune up.

"So let me get this straight, again, the accident that killed dad was actually a hired hit that was ordered by Shingin Yashida and made to look like an accident to kill mom, but got dad killed instead?" Gavin asked as he was inside the hood of the car. Devin handed him the tools he needed as he answered. "And it was all because they were working with HYDRA?"

"Precisely. And it's what led to our grandparents resenting her for getting him caught up in it in the first place." Devin nodded.

"This is why I never really cared to get along with those two." The pseudo vampire said as he finished up working on his car.

Just then, there was a buzz from the Garage's intercom that was connected to the front gate. "Hello? Is this the Xavier Institute?" A woman's voice asked.

"Yeah, who's asking?" Gavin answered.

"I'm here to speak to professor Xavier about one of his students, may I come in?" She explained.

"Alright, can I get a name please?" The boy Questioned.

"It's Mariko, Mariko Yashida." Was the voice's reply.

The boy's looked at each other with wide eyes. "Uh, sure, just gimme a second." Gavin said as he hung up.

"What are we going to do?" Devin asked.

"How the hell should I know? I don't know how to handle situations like these." His brother stated in slight panic as he started pacing.

"Well we'll definitely need to get the professor, at least." Devin said as calmly as he could.

"Well yeah, but he doesn't know how to handle the Yakuza." The pseudo vampire fired back.

"Well then why don't-" The metal user said before he stopped mid sentence. "Wait, didn't Logan say he's practically a citizen of Japan?"

"Yeah, why?" Gavin asked.

"Maybe he can help." The boy shrugged.

Gavin sighed as he put his hands in his pockets. "Yeah... Maybe, I'll go ask." He then went to the kitchen where Logan and Chelsea were cooking lunch for the Institute, mainly because it was the blonde Dragoness's turn to cook and she wasn't really up to doing it alone.

"Hey Logan?" Gavin said to the man.

"What is it, vamp?" Logan asked back.

"We have a problem." The boy told him.

The older man cocked an eyebrow, surprised that a student would be coming to him out of all people for help. "Did ya damage your car more than it already was?"

"No."

"Well don't just sit there, spit it out Smokey."

"There's a woman from the Yakuza here, asking about Devin. We-we don't know how to handle this. For all we know it could be the start of an ambush."

Logan let out his claws with a grunt. "Ya get her name?"

"Yeah. She said she's Mariko Yashida."

Logan's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Logan, what's the issue?" Chelsea asked, a concerned look on her face as she tossed a huge stack of steaks to the side. "Ya know, besides a gang member possibly trying to ambush us."

"Nothing it's- damn it!" Logan growled as he began walking to the door. "Chels just go get Charles."

"Hell no! If someone's got you this riled up, I'm coming to back you up." The dragoness snapped back.

"Wait so you know this Mariko chick?" Gavin asked.

"We have a history together, yeah." The man nodded.

"What kind of a history?" Chelsea questioned as they went to find Xavier.

"It's a long story." Logan told her.

Luckily for them, Devin had already informed Xavier of the situation, and the telepath, who wanted to settle this peacefully, decided to let the woman in.

Mariko walked into the Institute a minute later, and upon seeing Logan, she stopped in her tracks, her eyes oddly wide. But managed to still speak properly despite the momentary shock.

"Logan-san, It's... been awhile hasn't it?" She asked in surprise.

"So it has, Mariko, see you haven't changed much." Logan nodded.

Chelsea leaned in close to Gavin's ear, noting her friend's attitude. "What got up his ass?"

"Beats me." The boy whispered back.

"I've tried to continue and reflect my family's prestige," Mariko said. "Which, as you know, is quite important to them."

"I'd go as far as to say more important than anything," Logan said gruffly, his brows knitting into a frown.

"Ms. Yashida, what is your business here? I heard you were inquiring about one of my students." Charles interjected.

The Japanese woman nodded. "Please, if we may speak alone-"

"I'm not sure if we'd be comfortable leaving our headmaster with a gang member." Chelsea growled stepping forward.

"Chelsea. Please, there is no need to be hostile." Charles said calmly. "Ms. Yashida, please follow me to my office."

"I would like for Logan-san to join us." She quipped.

"Mariko you don't-" The feral man tried to respond.

"I may need a translator." She smiled at him. "And I'd prefer an adult to one of these students.

Gavin hissed at that, his fangs flashing. "Watch it." He hissed angrily.

Xavier gave him a stern glare before he, Logan and Mariko went to his office. As they got situated, Xavier spoke. "Now, as you were saying?"

Mariko then spoke in Japanese this time, she found speaking in English to be rather difficult and tiresome, so Logan translated.

"Apparently Devin went on a one man espionage mission to figure out who had ordered the hit on his parents, found them, and then followed their info to Shingin Yashida, her father... and let's just say that their meeting didn't end peacefully, or cleanly." The man explained.

Xavier's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you saying Devin killed your father?"

Mariko shook her head and spoke again. "No, but he did put him in the hospital and turned him over to the police, he's now in a maximum security prison under several life sentences, no possibility of parole, and he is in danger of the death penalty." Logan translated.

The telepath nodded. "So I assume you're here to collect Devin for him to face the consequences of his actions?" He asked her.

Mariko nodded. And Logan then voiced her thoughts. "Seems like it, Chuck." He told the man.

Xavier sighed. "As much as I wish I could help Miss Yashida, Devin is still a minor and is currently under my custody as his legal guardian. I can't just let you take him to face what very well could be a lynch mob because you feel as though he has wronged you." Mariko gave him a shocked look and then started yelling at him in Japanese.

"Yeah I'm not telling him what you said Mariko, so cool it, I can very easily have you thrown out." Logan snapped.

"That said, I do not condone his behavior, so if you wish to compromise by overseeing a punishment I can give him, within reason, then we certainly do that." Xavier told the woman.

Mariko sighed and then mumbled under her breath. "She says that'll be enough." Logan clarified.

"Good." The telepath nodded.

A little while later, Mariko was alone Logan outside the Institute doors, about to leave. "Why did you gang up on me? I thought we were on good terms?" She snapped at him.

"We are Mariko, but I'm still in charge of protecting these kids, you threaten them or the others, all bets are off." The man told her.

The woman sighed in defeat. "Loyal to a fault to those you care about, I suppose that's one thing I can never hate about you." She then stepped closer. "But must you be so harsh to your old flame, your old fiancé?"

"EX-fiancé, and yeah, honestly I think you need to learn a thing or two about how things work in the world." Logan corrected.

Mariko sighed as she simply leaned up and pecked him on the cheek. "I suppose you're right, well, until next time Logan-san."

The scraggly mutant sighed as he walked back into the Institute with his hands in his pockets, but before he could even get near his intended destination of the garage for a drink, he was slammed to the wall by two scaly and feminine arms.

Logan looked at his assailant and saw the face of Chelsea, her emerald green eyes narrowed and draconic and her teeth bared into fangs. She was _pissed_.

"Alright, Wolvie, you have exactly _three seconds _to explain what the fuck was going on with you and that Yakuza hoe out there just now before I shove a steel rod through your mouth and out your ass and barbecue it!" The woman snapped at him.

"Woah, woah, easy dragon breath." He put his hands up in defense.

"_Don't_ tell me to go easy!" She snarled. "From where I'm standing I saw you getting a little too friendly with that bitch who came after one of our students!"

Logan snarled back at her trying to push her scaly forearm off. "Chelsea it was nothing."

"No, it wasn't. Your heart rate is up and you got one hell of a blush going across your face. And blushing isn't something the Wolverine does!" The dragoness cocked a teasing eyebrow at him. "Besides smooching you, what else did she do? Run off with your balls and dignity?!"

"What the hell has gotten into you?!" He exclaimed, throwing her off.

"You seemed a little too comfortable with someone, for who all we know, wanted to kill Devin." The dragoness gripped him by the shirt with both fists, still baring her fangs. "We are here to protect these kids and the next thing I know I see you practically making out with a Japanese bitch threatening one of us!"

He growled gripping her wrists. "Mariko wouldn't go as far as to kill a kid!"

"Yeah, I don't think so given your translation back there, buddy."

He raised an eyebrow at her, pulling her back. "You were eavesdropping?!"

The blond rolled her eyes. "I had my suspicions, get over it."

"Chels, you were one of the ones to be apprehensive about Devin joining after his stint in Japan. Why are ya trying to defend the runt now?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "If I didn't know any better I'd say this wasn't even about the kid and about that lil peck back there."

"Well, you definitely don't kiss Sabertooth hello whenever that harry ball sack drops by." She said with a testing glare.

"Ya want an explanation for that?! Fine!" The feral mutant growled, yanking Chelsea into the garage with him and pushing her against the workbench while placing his hands on either side of her. "Yeah, Mariko and I have history."

"What kind of history?" The blond sneered through her teeth.

"Romantic history." Was Logan's reply.

"So does that mean if any of your exes come in threatening a member of this family they get let go with a kiss goodbye?" Chelsea growled. "I mean she was gorgeous so at least you choose beautiful and deadly."

"Don't talk about her like that." The man warned.

"So what? Was it a dine and dash scenario or do you know this bitch well enough to defend her?!" The blonde snapped.

"For fuck's sake Chelse- We were engaged!" Logan yelled at her leaning it a bit closer than he meant to.

There was an awkward pause. Chelsea looked at him in shock, biting her lip as if to keep from continuing more insults. "Damn... never took you for the marriage type."

"I wasn't- I'm not. While I was in Japan I was doing working with her family-"

"The family that killed the Shirakumo twin's father?"

Logan paused, taking a breath trying to control his anger. "Yes. That one." He growled through gritted teeth. "Her and I met. We took a liking to each other. Her father approved of me more than most of his own men or heirs to other successful families. It was practically an arranged marriage."

The dragoness folded her arms watching her companion as he stepped back, hands in his pockets. "So what happened?"

"Things didn't work out." He sighed.

"No shit, really?!" She remarked sarcastically. "I thought maybe this was an undercover booty call."

"We mutually agreed to call the wedding off. We weren't right for each other, and there were... Other complications."

The blond scoffed. "I'll agree that you are not right for each other. She's way too elegant and refined for you. It's a straight-up beauty and the beast scenario with you two."

"The other reason was because of one of my enemies, Lady Deathstrike and her clan. She's a real mean piece of work who wants to see me suffer and then die..." He then sighed as he remembered what happened. "Mariko nearly died of a deadly poison because of me, she was just barely able to pull through when I was able to find a cure. So I wasn't going to put her through that again."

"Oh..." this explanation made the Dragoness feel almost guilty. "Now I wish I hadn't said a damn thing." But then she got angry again. "Well if it was mutual why did she kiss you?!"

"We were close, Chels, stuff like that doesn't just disappear overnight." The man said simply.

Chelsea was about to retort but didn't, as if she understood what he meant, a flash of one of her friends coming across her mind. "Boy do I know how that feels..."

"Oh yeah?" Logan Questioned, his voice obviously not even trying to hide his skepticism.

"I had this friend in HYDRA named Marcus, he was an Italian that could manipulate sound waves, and he was also a drug addict. Dope, heroine, straight up nicotine, he did it all." She told him with a sad expression as she let out a heavy sigh. "Both of us were always constantly thrown into solitary confinement and we got really close when we started talking to each other through our cells... we even started to become a little more than friends, but nothing ever became of it, we just could never see each other as more than siblings."

"You say that like you think he's dead, you and Bast never talk about him." Logan mentioned.

That's when the dam broke, Chelsea then felt her legs buckle as she fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. "He is, or at least that's what we assumed... he's gone Logan, the one person who knew me better than anyone else is gone, and I was too weak to stop it!" She then started to cry, which caught Wolverine completely off guard, but he decided to just sit beside her and (albeit rather awkwardly) hug her in an effort to comfort her.

"Chels, Chels look at me." Logan said as he forced her to look at him. "He's not the only one, I know you better than anyone else can hope to, remember?" She nodded as he then brought her closer. "And I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

"That's what they all say..." She said under her breath.

"I'm not like most people." The man told her firmly.

As the two separated Chelsea managed to wipe her eyes and looked at him. "Yeah yeah." She smiled. "So, any other women in your life I should know about?"

"Why do you wanna know? Are you jealous or something?" Logan smirked.

"Maybe, maybe not, guess you'll never know." She smirked back, leaning in closer. Which caused Logan to chuckle.

"The rest of the women I've been with were either one night stands or they're already dead." The man sighed. "One that comes to mind is Rose, a girl I dated back in Canada a long time ago. And Shinzen, a woman I was actually married to at one point during the 70s, at least until she died from an accident. She and I had a kid, his name is Daken. We've got a rocky relationship."

"Yikes." The woman winced.

"Yeah, family and I don't really mix." He said with a shrug.

"That makes two of us." Chelsea said , bringing her legs close to her chest. "My biological family and I never mixed well. My parents saw us as accessories to their picture perfect family. My brothers and I were never close. Then I had my mutant family... and you know how that ended. I mean I'm glad that Bast, Kai and I are back together, but, still..."

"You got another family here now though." He nudged her. "And so far, it seems to be going okay for you."

"Don't jinx it Wolvie." She warmed with a small smile. "I'm surprised you didn't try to bring your boy here."

"Yeah well, as I said, we aren't on good terms."

"Has that stopped you from wanting kids in the future?"

He shrugged. "I have my kids here. So many of the girls are like daughters to me. Kitty, Rogue, Jubilee, even Red. I couldn't ask for a better set up where I get the thrill of raising teenage girls then can bail at any point."

"Ah, true asshole dad move." She joked, nudging him.

"You have met me before, right?" Logan shot back with a smirk.

"That's why I said it." Chelsea smirked back as they were finally able to talk normally now, and they did, for a good long while.

(The next night)

_-Stokes County maximum security prison-_

A security guard was reading a book and listening to music while ignoring what was appearing on the monitors until a loud alarm cut through his music and made him fall out of his chair with a startled yelp.

"Hello!" The man yelped as he turned around, as soon as he saw what was going on, he grabbed his radio. "Hey we gotta problem down here!"

Security guards scrambled to Juggernaut's cell as the warden of the prison arrived there himself.

"What's happening?" The warden asked firmly.

"Containment unit's failing, sir." One of the Doctors there said.

"Have you tried the manual override?" Questioned the CO.

"Negative sir, we're all shut out. Whatever's happening is causing a major malfunction." The Doctor replied.

"What are we gonna do sir?" The guard asked.

"The only thing we can do." Said the warden, while looking at Juggernaut. "We make a call."

(Meanwhile)

-_Xavier Institute, a few minutes later-_

Everyone was starting to wake up in the middle of the really early morning and came out to the hall where Xavier was waiting for them. Well… Everyone except Gavin, who was still sleeping.

"I apologize for waking you all up this hour, but this is urgent." He began when everyone had arrived.

"What's happening, Professor?" Scott asked.

"I just received a call from Sgt. Stone a few minutes ago." The man said.

"Stone? You mean from the penitentiary?" Devin asked. "You cannot be serious."

"I wish that was the case. My brother's containment unit has begun to fail, and they need my help to fix the problem. I'll be gone for a few days. And With Ororo in Africa, and Chelsea and Bast in Arizona with Logan. I'll need someone to keep an eye on things, so Scott and Jean, you two are in charge." He explained. "And when you get the chance, inform Gavin. I'm not surprised he slept through this." He added.

"I'll do it. He has a habit of turning his hearing aids off when he doesn't want to hear something." Devin said as he yawned before turning and going back to his room.

"Very well, then. I'll see you all when I get back." The aged telepath said as he rolled into the elevator behind him.

"... Alright, since we're all up, who's up for some Danger Room drills?" Scott asked enthusiastically. Everyone just groaned and started walking away from him.

"Don't let that power go to your head, 'Professor S'." Jean told him as she walked away.

Scott just smiled in response, already letting it go to his head.

Later that day, Devin had just finished telling Gavin about what the professor said and the pseudo vampire was a little less than pleased.

"This. Is. Bullshit!" Gavin snapped as he slammed his locker door and winced at the loud noise while Devin handed him back his hearing aids.

"Here." He said with a sigh. His brother took his hearing aids and put them back where they belong. Once he had an appropriate volume established, Gavin turned back to his brother.

"So not only is the Prof out of the house, we have to listen to the red haired guilt tripping goodie two shoes, and a guy with a giant ass _flagpole _perpetually shoved up his ass?!" Gavin snapped as the two walked down the halls.

"Believe me, I am not happy about this arrangement either." Devin sighed. Just then the boys suddenly bumped into a very familiar trio of girls.

Risty, Kitty and Roxy had just bumped into the two of them. And Devin had just unintentionally collided with the pink haired adrenaline junky by accident, though the girl was able to avoid falling into the other girls thanks to her 'Scorpion sense'.

"Hey Kitty, Risty. Who's your new friend?" Gavin asked, since he'd never met Roxy in person yet till now.

"Oh, that's right. You've never met. Gavin, this is Roxy Styles. Word of forewarning: She has bad eyesight." Devin introduced and warned his brother.

"Huh, whaddya know. A girl with bad eyesight meeting a guy with bad hearing. If that ain't a joke in the making…" Gavin chuckled as he held out his hand to Roxy. "Anyway, nice to meet you."

"Yeah. Nice to know I'm not the only one who suffers from certain problems." The grey skinned girl replied with a smile as she managed to shake Gavin's hand.

"Well now that that's done, Kitty, you know any good parties happening now?" Risty asked the intangible girl.

"No. The party grapevine is pretty much empty right now." Kitty replied with a sigh.

"Ya know what girls, I think we should have our own party. Ideally at someone's place that doesn't have any adults around?" Roxy said to both Devin and Kitty while leaning the back of her head on the former's chest to look up at him. "You wouldn't know anything about a place like that, would you Devin?"

"Don't look at me." The boy said as he looked away nervously. He didn't know why, but something about this girl made him feel extremely nervous.

"Actually I think I may know a place…" Kitty piped up.

Later on, Rogue, Kitty, Kurt, Evan and the Twins were all talking about the plan Kitty had to have a party while everyone was away.

"Alright! While the professor's away." Evan smiled.

"The kids can play!" Kurt smiled as he danced before high fiving the blonde.

"And play it loud!" Kitty cheered as she bumped her locker closed with her hips.

"Um, reality check, guys: Scott and Jean." Rogue stated, causing them to slump in defeat.

"Yeah, but I think I got a plan on how we can get rid of King and Queen buzzkill." Gavin said as he hung upside down from one of the lockers while reading a copy of People magazine.

"This isn't going to end well…" Devin sighed, knowing where this was going.

"What's the plan?" Kitty inquired. Gavin closed his magazine and got down from the lockers before grinning at them.

"You see, it goes like this…" He started as he filled them in on his plan.

(Elsewhere)

Jean was currently hiding behind the bulletin board in the student union, spying on Scott and his sometime fling Terran.

The girl was currently trying to get the boy to take off his shades, but went he wouldn't, she left in a huff and Scott walked behind the bulletin board, causing Jean to become startled.

"Jean, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Nothing! I was just-I wasn't spying on you." The redhead snapped.

"... You're jealous, aren't you?" The shaded teen noted.

"I-of all the nerve. I am sure Scott Summers! Urh!" Jean growled as she stormed off. As she rounded the corner though…

"You women are so predictable." Devin said while he leaned against a wall and cleaned his nails with his favorite butterfly knife. The red haired telepath whirled around in surprise, again, and faced him.

"When did you even get there?!" She yelped.

"That's none of your business." The boy said. "You know, you should really make a move soon before another girl snatches him."

"What?" Jean asked.

"With Scott. You're playing the long game, like Gavin is with Rogue, and it's not going to work. I'm not trying to be critical, I'm just trying to save you from the same suffering." Devin told her as he twirled and put away his knife.

"That's not what's going on, Devin." She stated firmly.

The Japanese metal user just shrugged as he put his hands in his pockets. "Fine, keep denying it, you'll find out that I'm right eventually." The boy said as he melted himself into the wall and disappeared.

The redhead looked at where he was before sighing in aggravation and just decided to proceed with her day.

(Later that day)

-_Stokes County Maximum Security Prison-_

Xavier was currently sitting in front of Juggernaut's containment unit and had his tools ready to fix the system, an entire squad of armed guards standing behind him.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? We're taking a big risk of him breaking out here." The warden questioned with a concerned look.

"It's the only thing that makes sense." Xavier said.

"And what about the twenty second reboot time?" The man asked.

"His paralysis shouldn't wear off that quickly. Still, I'll be as careful as I can." The telepath said.

"Alright, let's get started then." The warden nodded as they began the aforementioned process.

Xavier got to work quickly, but unfortunately he was just barely able to fix everything when his brother was about to bust out of his containment unit.

As he finished, the man sat back while letting out a sigh of relief, before his expression turned to one of grave concern.

"Something wrong?" The warden asked, seeing the look on Xavier's face.

"Yes, there is. This wasn't a malfunction. It was sabotage." The man replied.

(Meanwhile)

Back at the Institute, Kitty and Kurt had just gotten back from stranding Scott and Jean at a spot called Lover's Hill just outside of town and everyone was already starting to arrive for their party.

"I love it when a plan comes together." Gavin said as he sat back on the couch.

Devin, meanwhile, was just pulled into a dance with Roxy, who had apparently needed to sneak out of home to attend the party due to her five overprotective older brothers.

The boy honestly wasn't a good dancer, and with how nervous he seemed to get around the grey skinned girl didn't exactly help matters either.

Risty, meanwhile, was showing one of her friends, a kid everyone called Arcade, around the mansion.

"I've only been here once, but I think this hallway leads to the library." Risty said as she led Arcade along.

"What about that elevator?" The bespectacled boy asked as he pointed at it. Risty thought for a moment before shrugging.

"No idea. Never went to wherever it goes." She replied. "But ya know, it might lead to that computer Rogue told me about."

That tidbit caused Arcade to perk up. "Let's go have a look! I need to see this!" He said excitedly.

As soon as they got down to the lower level, Arcade hacked into the Cerebro room and they were then brought face to face with the X-men's mutant sensing supercomputer.

"Whoa… This is definitely cutting edge." The computer nerd said as he looked around.

"Think you can get it working?" Risty asked.

"If I can get the headpiece to accept me as its primary user…" The boy said as he rewired the headdress and put it on as Cerebro booted up. "And, we're in."

That's when files upon files started to appear, even profiles on the students and their powers, which, luckily, neither of them recognized.

"Whoa, this is a lot of characters!" Arcade said in amazement.

"Yeah. It is." Risty nodded. "Mind making me a copy?" She asked him, her eyes having an evilly mischievous gleam in them.

Arcade just handed her a disc as he activated a program that started up the danger room as the English girl left.

Meanwhile, at the party, Gavin was currently taking a nap on the couch when he heard something odd coming from down stairs, as he slowly woke up he went over to Rogue who was also looking rather concerned.

"Does the Danger Room sound like it's on, or am I crazy?" The boy asked her.

"No, it's on alright." Rogue told him. "We gotta get the others and shut it down."

Gavin nodded as he went to grab the others, then they all changed into their costumes and went down to the Low levels. Once down there, Rogue tried to get in, but couldn't.

"Someone must be messing with Cerebro. You guys go check on it, Devin and I will try and handle the danger room from the inside." Gavin ordered.

"Got it." Kitty nodded as she and the others headed for the Cerebro control room.

Gavin then unsheathed his sword and cut him and Devin a way in. As soon as they were in, they both started to fight for their lives as apparently someone had called in the heavy duty equipment. The pseudo vampire even had to slice three massive circular saws in half to avoid meeting the same fate and catch one of the haves that almost hit Devin, which caused his hand to briefly bleed before healing almost instantly.

"It's all fun and games until someone loses a head…" The boy sighed as he tossed the half of the massive saw to the side.

"No one says it like that. But still, agreed." Devin chimed in with a sigh of his own, with most of the heavy duty stuff mangled, they then moved onto the manual shut off point.

Meanwhile, Kitty led the others to the main control room for Cerebro, but there were dozens of other traps lining the corridors. There were even flamethrowers, of all things. Kurt had teleported Kitty out of dodge while Evan gave them both cover while the bubbly valley girl had to phase through a wall with Rogue.

As soon as they reached the Cerebro room, that's when they saw Arcade messing with it, and he was a few minutes away from causing the Institute's systems to reach Defcon 4.

Sneaking up behind him, Rogue placed an ungloved hand on the back of Arcade's neck and instantly knocked him out while Kitty phased through certain parts of Cerebro to temporarily shut it down for good measure.

(About half an hour later)

Everyone was up in the main foire sitting wherever they could that didn't have something broken on it.

"Whoo! That was a close one! A minute later and Arcade would've made the Institute enter DEFCON 4! Ha ha!" Gavin laughed and sighed in relief as he plopped next to Rogue. Devin just shook his head, he was next to Roxy, who had just informed them that she was too a mutant.

"I do _not _want to know how that would've gone." Evan said as he tried to relax a bit.

"So, this is a school for mutants, huh?" Roxy asked, her rollerblades and helmet currently on the couch next to her. "Seems pretty cool."

"Yeah, it can be pretty cool." Kurt nodded.

"If a bit crowded." Rogue added.

"And loud." Nodded Gavin.

"Not to mention chaotic." Devin chimed in, getting a chorus of 'yeps' from both the X-men and New Mutants.

"But it's definitely a place I'd wanna call home." Kai piped up, who was sitting next to Jamie and Amara.

"Yeah. I mean, look at us. We already call the place home." Amara said with a smile.

As they all finished relaxing, Gavin then got up. "Okay people, listen up! We got exactly one hour to get this place back in working order before Jean and Scott get back. So let's get moving!"

"Right!" Everyone nodded as they got to work in cleaning up the place.

Exactly an hour later Scott and Jean were pulled into the Institute driveway by a tow truck and stormed into the building- expecting to see the scene of a huge party- only to find it in good condition and everyone was just lounging around doing their own thing. And Roxy was still there too.

"Um…" Scott tried to say something, but failed. Jean was faring no better.

Gavin looked up at the two from his People magazine as he sat upside down next to Rogue. "Hey you two, how was your trip to Lover's Hill?" He asked casually.

"It would've been fine if my car hadn't been sabotaged." Scott said irritably.

"Now who could've done that, I wonder?" Devin thought aloud, getting a good chorus of snickers from the others.

"Did you guys throw a party while we were gone and clean it up?" Jean asked sternly.

"Come on, Jean, do you honestly think we could've cleaned up a mess like _that _in an hour?" Bobby asked the redhead.

Jean tried to retort but gave up in the end upon realizing that they were right on the money. There was no way for them to clean up a mess like that unless they hired Pietro to help them, which was unlikely.

As if on cue, Xavier's car soon pulled into the drive, notifying the students that their teacher was home. Roxy then got up and slung her rollerblades over her shoulder.

"I'll see you guys later." She told them.

"Don't forget to tell your brothers about us, maybe we can get them to let you stay here!" Gavin called as the girl left.

"Who was that?" Jean asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Roxy Styles, another mutant who's living with her brothers." Devin replied.

"Oh." Was all the telepath said.

At that moment Xavier rolled in, and he seemed rather pleased that the Mansion wasn't falling apart after his return.

"Hey prof, how'd everything go?" Rogue asked the man.

"It wasn't a coincidence that drew me away. Someone sabotaged my brother's containment cell." He replied with a grave tone. "Did any of you see anyone suspicious while I was away?"

"Well the only people who were over here today were Risty, who left over an hour ago. And Roxy, who you just saw leave. So I'd say no... Wow, so Steven Tyler is celebrating his daughter's eighteenth birthday by taking her on tour with him, lucky..." Gavin said as he continued to read his magazine.

"Regardless, I feel like this was done deliberately. I only hope nothing bad comes out of it." Xavier mused.

"Yeah, us too." Scott nodded.

"Oh, and by the way, Cerebro shorted out after a power surge hit two hours ago, so ya _might _wanna have a look at it." Gavin mentioned casually.

"That's not something I wanted to hear." The bald man groaned as he rested his head in his palm.

Meanwhile outside the Institute, a woman clad in a black latex/spandex matching halter bra top, lycra skirt and boots was crouching on one of the Institute's gate pillars. Upon closer inspection it was revealed to be Mystique! Her yellow eyes were now much more cat-like and her skin was a much darker blue. The woman smiled wickedly as she licked her lips, her gaze lingering on Gavin and Rogue before she slipped the same disk Risty had into the pocket of her skirt.

"Good work, Vampyr. Not only did you inadvertently help me get what I needed, but you're still constantly trying to help Rogue better control her powers to try and win her heart…" Mystique then chuckled darkly. "It's so _sickeningly _sweet, that I cannot _wait _to see how it ends." With that she leapt from the pillar and instead of her landing on the sidewalk, it was Risty who now stood there.

Risty looked at the Institute as her eyes glowed yellow briefly before she walked off into the darkness of the streets in front of her.

'_Don't worry, love, I'll make sure that you'll get what you want. It'll be our little secret…_' She thought evilly as she continued to walk into the dark, giggling maliciously the whole way.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26: A Visit in the Dark**

**WARNING! IMPLIED DRUG USE, PEDOPHELIA AND RAPE IN THIS CHAPTER. You have been warned.**

In one of the Xavier Institute's rooms slept two girls. One was Amara, a Brazilian Mutant with lava powers, and the other being Kai, a young girl who was originally in the St. Jude's research hospital recovering from cancer. And also a friend of Chelsea.

As morning came the two girls slowly woke up. Originally Amara's roommate was Boom Boom, but after she left, Professor X thought it was a good idea for Kai to be her roommate since the lava user would help fill the gap left behind by the death of the girl's sister.

So far, Kai was adjusting to life at the Institute at an expected speed. She was glad that Jamie was here since it helped to have another kid her age to talk to. She also found a bit of a dance partner in Kitty since she wanted some dance lessons.

Kurt was also willing to help her settle in, plus she found a certain enjoyment in rubbing his fur. Oddly enough, it made her want to buy a cat.

Though all that being said she was still getting used to things. For one thing she wasn't a fan of some of the rules, or the early morning training, but what kid is? She was also still nervous around most of the guys, save Jamie, and wasn't very trusting towards the adults save maybe Chelsea, Bast and Ororo. The African woman actually had become like a second mother figure to the girl thanks to her nurturing nature. But much like how Bast and Chelsea were, Kai still had flashbacks to the days at HYDRA, the worst of which involving her and her sister Pele.

Though much like the other two, Kai had also agreed to take counseling from Emma Frost, well, after a _lot _of convincing from her friends and of course Gavin, who had actually become like a big brother to her.

Speaking of which, Kai, Gavin, Bast and Chelsea were all in Xavier's office on a conference call with Emma to discuss Kai's first appointment.

"Personally, I think at least one of us should have our appointments with her so she'd feel more comfortable." Gavin piped up.

"I agree." Bast nodded before turning to Kai. "Kai, sweetheart, is that okay with you?"

Kai nodded. "Yeah, that's okay."

"_That sounds like a reasonable plan. Now all that leaves is whose appointment I should line it up with." _Came Emma's voice on the speaker phone on Xavier's desk.

"At best, It'll be either me or Chelsea since we're the ones she's most familiar with." Bast said.

"_Alright, now that leaves two dates open. Next Wednesday, which is your appointment Bast. Or the following Thursday, which is your appointment Chelsea." _Emma said. "_All Kai needs to do is choose the date she'll be able to make it." _The platinum blonde explained.

"Well kiddo, what do you think?" Chelsea asked her younger sister figure.

Kai was quiet for a minute. "Well, I was kinda hoping to go out with Jamie to the arcade next week… And I was gonna go to the library with Amara after school on Thursday… But I think I can make it back in enough time to join Bast for her appointment."

"Sounds like we have a plan." Gavin smiled.

"_Alright, I'll schedule Kai's appointment for the same time as Bast's. See you guys Wednesday." _Emma said with an audible smile before she hung up.

Kai sighed. "Are you sure this lady's trustworthy, guys?"

"She's trustworthy. The rest of us can vouch for her. We saw her only once and we turned out better thanks to her." Bast said with a reassuring smile.

"And I've been seeing her for years, so I know how she operates." Gavin nodded.

"Okay." The girl nodded as everyone then left.

(That following Wednesday)

Kai and Jamie were currently at an arcade playing some games, and Jamie was really enjoying watching Kai use her water controlling powers to cause people to get sprayed with water when they used the water fountain.

"This is fun." Jamie whispered, enjoying the sight in front of him as another kid got sprayed in the face.

"I know, I haven't been able to have this much fun with my powers in a long time." The Hawaiian girl smiled before sighing sadly. "Pele probably would have enjoyed this."

"And she would want you to smile more like you were right now." Her friend said with a comforting smile. Kai looked at him before she hugged him, much to his surprise.

"Thanks Jamie, you really are a good friend." She smiled as she kissed him on the cheek.

The duplicating boy blushed and covered his face with one hand. "Uh… Yeah, n-no problem…" He told her nervously, causing her to giggle.

Kai then looked at the time before she turned back to him. "Come on, I have an appointment in an hour. I don't wanna risk being late 'cause we lost track of time." She said as she pointed her thumb at the clock on the wall.

"Okay." Jamie nodded.

After they got back to the Institute, Emma Frost was already waiting for the girl with Bast in the main foire.. The telepathic therapist turned to Kai and smiled lightly.

"Hello Kai, I'm Emma Frost, it's nice to finally meet you face to face." The woman said as she walked up to the girl.

Kai could only nod as both she and Jamie blushed due to how attractive the woman was. Reason why Kai was blushing? It was because she's bisexual.

"Now if you and Bast would follow me, we'll go ahead and get started." Emma told the two as she led them to the Institute's library.. When they got there, Emma had them take some seats before they got started. The platinum blonde did Bast first and was pleased with how she was doing.

"Very good, it seems like the mental gaps have completely filled themselves and any and all residual programming HYDRA may have placed has faded. And on top of that, it seems like your personality has become much more upbeat, judging by how your demeanor has changed." The woman nodded. "I'm pleased. Now, any flashes or bad dreams lately at all?"

"No, not lately. I had been getting one or two when my brain was still in the recovery process, but now I barely have any." Bast told her while stretching, her cat tail curling. "Good thing too, this cat needs her beauty sleep." She added with a yawn that made her look like a true cat.

"I'm sure." Emma chuckled before looking at Kai. "Are you still sure you want to do this?" She asked.

"Well…" The girl then looked at Bast, then back at Emma. "If Bast and Chelsea did well, then, yeah I'm willing to try it."

Emma nodded as she put her hands on Kai's head. "Alright, now relax and open your mind to me." She told the girl.

Kai nodded as Emma entered, showing the hell within. Kai and her sister Pele were taken by HYDRA and were subjected to a similar kind of hell Chelsea went through, but they were always together.

One memory showed the two girls strapped to two metal chairs, nude and conductor patches were attached to their bodies, and jumper cables were attached to them as scientists shocked one and the other felt its pain, continuously increasing the voltage with every shock.

Another showed Kai being submerged in a large tank of water and constantly electrocuted. Then both her and Pele were bent over tables and gagged while they were being beaten and whipped. Then Victor Rowner was shown putting two electric collars on them both to try and make them more obedient. Then there were memories of both girls being molested by many soldiers and then left in cages without food or water for days on end. Then there was the scene of her sister being crushed along with some HYDRA soldiers before everything ended.

'_If I could, I'd give Gavin everything he needs to rip those monsters apart!' _Emma thought in disgust and fury. "... Alright, I'm going to be removing 80% of these memories, and suppressing the rest except for the one of your sister's death. I'm sorry but it's too ingrained for anything to be done."

"Okay." Kai replied with a sad tone.

With that, she got to work, and after a few minutes, she finally had everything erased and suppressed, and she made sure to make sure that her personality wouldn't be too affected by it to ensure the integrity of her mind. Once everything was done, Emma pulled back with a satisfied look on her face and stroked Kai's head, which was now covered in some short hair.

"There you are, sweetie, how do you feel now?" Emma asked.

"I feel _so _much better… But am I supposed to feel a bit empty?" She said blissfully before becoming confused at the end.

"Yes, that's just a normal side effect, it should disappear within the week or so." Emma nodded.

"Okay." The girl replied before she hugged Emma, much to the woman's surprise before she hugged back with a smile. "Thanks." Kai said softly, not wanting the embrace to end.

"Well that's certainly a good sign." Bast smiled. "Usually she's not very trusting towards new adults."

"Shut up, don't ruin this." Kai retorted as she continued hugging Emma.

"Well you're welcome." The telepath smiled as she patted the girl on the head.

(Elsewhere, That Friday night)

It was Friday night at the Institute and everyone was enjoying their own thing, though one had some pretty big plans for tonight.

In Gavin's room, he was currently trying to figure out what he was going to wear to a club tonight, but was having trouble. Sighing, he closed his eyes and then his eyes flashed red before his personality changed to his Level 1 personality.

This was a new trick he learned, he could change his personalities at will without releasing his seals. With that done he spun around and spun into his closet before he spun back out and stopped, now in a strapping black suit with red embroidery on it, a black and red sequin tie and black wingtip shoes.

"SSSMOKIN'!" He smiled as he pinched his hip, causing it to sizzle. He then went to his mirror and looked in it. "It's Party time! P-A-R-T-Y? Because I gotta!"

After that little moment of amusement, he left in his car and went to the club. As soon as he got there, it could be seen that he was driving up to a strip club, all while still in his Level 1 personality. Dusting himself off, as he exited the car he walked up to the club's bouncer and showed him a fake ID he had made for just such an occasion.

"Hold it, kid, let me see some ID." The bouncer, who was a large and muscular man said firmly.

Without a word, Gavin handed him his fake ID to the bouncer. The man looked it over and then at him. "Anyone ever told you that you look young for your age?" The man asked.

"Yes, many times. In fact when I was thirteen people even thought I was a girl due to how androgynous I looked." The boy stated.

"Okay, well, in ya go." The bouncer said as he stepped aside.

Gavin nodded at him before he went inside. As he entered, he was met by the sight of many beautiful women dressed in nothing but lingerie or underwear that had openings on them. Some worked as waitresses, some did lap dances, others were dancing on stage and discarding clothing. Every one of them had all different kinds of body types.

As he sat down in front of one of the stages, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye while the dancer in front of him stripped off the last of her clothing. The thing he saw was a woman, a very familiar looking woman with red hair, yellow eyes and blue skin. She was looking at him from across the way as she shifted her appearance to have Caucasian skin before gesturing with her finger for him to follow her to the bar.

Gavin narrowed his eyes before he gestured for the dancer to stop. After she stopped, he went over to where Mystique was now sitting, her legs crossed in a sultry manner as she waited for him.

"Long time no see, Mystique. What do you want?" He asked.

"Simple, Vampyr. I wish to talk." She replied.

"Forgive me if I find that debatable." The pseudo vampire replied as he sat down.

"I simply want to comment on how pleased I am at how Rogue has been… Coming out of her shell, as it were, under your and Xavier's care." The shapeshifter said. "I'm actually quite pleased. Makes me wish I let her join you instead a long time ago."

"A bit late for those kinds of thoughts, but I understand what you mean." Gavin replied with a shrug.

"And how has the development of her powers come along? Have your skin on skin tactics helped her be able to touch people?" She asked.

"They have, actually. Bad news is though that it only allows her to touch someone briefly. Sustained contact is a hazard." The boy answered.

"A shame, but at least there's progress." Mystique sighed. "And Kurt, is he alright?" The woman asked, feeling slightly concerned for her son.

"He's fine. There was an incident ages ago involving an old wormhole generator that involved him getting trapped in a middleverse, or something like that, but he got back out of that just fine… Did you know about that?" He wondered.

"Oh yes I remember. It was one of the reasons why I had Toad keep an eye on Devin. By the way, how is he? Still a stick in the mud?" The woman asked, leaning forward as her ample chest bounced from the action.

"The real question is: When is he not one?" The horror enthusiast replied jokingly, and was able to get a chuckle out of Mystique that wasn't evil in nature.

"Good point." She said with a small smile after she calmed down. The woman then called over a drink for the two and then asked for Gavin to be given a regular coke with half a shot of bourbon in it. This caused him to raise an eyebrow.

"You're buying me a drink?" He asked.

"Your ID says you're eighteen, right? That means you can drink with adult supervision." The shapeshifter said. "Consider this a thank you for all the good you've done for my son and two wards." She said as she passed him his drink, which she had sneakily slipped something into.

Taking the glass he looked at her. "Alright, but just know that I have an innate resistance to poison, so if you're trying to kill me by doing that, it won't work." He told her.

"None of that. Just a little something to give it a bit of flavor." She lied with a shrug to sell it.

The boy eyed her as he drank the beverage, and as he finished it, he didn't feel anything wrong. "Huh. Okay." The pseudo vampire shrugged as he sat there unphased. The two continued to talk unimpeded, that was until a few minutes later when Mystique mentioned knowing about Gavin's feelings for Rogue, causing his eyes to widen in alarm.

"What?! How do you know about that?!" The boy gasped, choking on his second drink.

"Oh? Your friend Risty said she had a feeling you were in love with her." The woman said, causing the boy to cough even harder. "And before you ask how I know her: it's because she's my niece."

Gavin's coughing fit ended as he took a deep breath and exhaled before looking at Mystique and scanning her eyes for any lies, and listening for any changes in her heartbeat, but finding none.

"Okay… So why bring this up? I take it you don't approve?" He asked her.

"Quite the opposite, actually. I want Rogue to be able to have a nice life in her future and you're a part of that future. I'd be a fool to ruin it." The blue skinned woman replied.

"How do you know that?" Gavin questioned.

"Her aunt Irene, my old lover, has a mutation that allows her to see the future. One of her visions showed Rogue in a happy relationship with a boy who helped her understand her powers and come out of her shell." Mystique explained. "And it is my belief that the boy in this vision, may in fact be you."

Gavin took this in and nodded. "Is that why you wanted to talk to me? To tell me this?" He asked her.

"Yes, and so that I can tell you that you have my blessing." She replied.

"I don't think I really want or need it, but thanks anyw-" That was when whatever Mystique put in his drinks finally started to take effect, causing him to feel lightheaded and wobbly.

"Don't worry, Mr. Shirakumo, all this will do is make you more _willing _to join me in my room tonight. And once we're there…" She then caught him as he fell over and whispered into his ear. "That's when the _real _fun can begin." She whispered seductively as everything went white.

(The next morning)

Gavin slowly woke up as he found himself on the couch in Xavier's office. Groaning, the boy sat up, feeling a pounding headache assault his cranium.

As soon as he managed to get his bearings, he looked around and saw that everyone was standing there, the adults looking none too pleased with him.

"Uh… Don't suppose I could bother you guys for an aspirin?" He asked nervously.

"No." Chelsea stated harshly. "And that's another thing: What were you even doing last night?"

"Would you believe me if I said I was club hopping?" The boy asked her.

"Depends on what happened if you were." Logan said.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." Gavin stated. "It's pretty crazy."

"Can you even remember anything?" Bast asked.

"Yes. I remember one of the clubs I went to being a strip club, and bumping into Mystique of all people while I was there." He told them.

"Huh, haven't heard anything about her in awhile." Logan mused.

"Did she say anything to you?" Xavier asked.

"Yeah, she actually said she was happy to see that Kurt and Rogue were happy here, and how pleased she was with Rogue's progress with controlling her powers and coming out of her shell." He told the man.

"It is nice to know that she's at least pleased by their development. Anything else?" Xavier asked.

"A few other things, but one is of a personal matter. Oh, she also mentioned that Risty is her niece." Gavin stated.

"... Oh." Rogue said, blinking in surprise.

"Well that certainly explains why she knew so much about the Institute." Devin noted.

"True." Scott agreed with a nod.

"And did she offer you anything?" Ororo asked. "She often does this to get what she wants." She added.

"Yeah, she offered me a drink, and after that everything is just a white haze. I'm not sure what happened but, whatever happened makes me feel… Violated." The boy shuddered.

The second he finished that statement, alarms went off in the adult's heads. They hoped beyond hope that it wasn't what they thought it was. If they were wrong…

'_Mystique is gonna pay for this!' _Chelsea growled in her mind.

(Elsewhere)

Mystique was now sitting at a cafe in town in the form of Risty as she placed a hand on her slim belly. "Thanks for the wonderful night, Gavin… And thank you for the little parting present too." She smiled as she could subtly feel something growing inside her.

A seed has been planted, and now all the shapeshifter had to do to see her future plan come to fruition was wait for it to bloom.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27: Taming the Beast Within **

**Warning: vague descriptions of sexual activity in this chapter. Just a friendly heads up.**

It had been a couple weeks after everyone found out that Mystique had met Gavin at a club and did something unknown to him. Now Rogue decided to ask Risty about what Mystique had told them: Mainly how the exchange student was her niece.

"Mind telling me why you decided to not tell us about you being Mystique's niece?" Rogue questioned with narrowed eyes.

"Mystique? You mean my aunt Raven?" Risty asked. "Well, it's mainly because you never asked." The girl shrugged.

Rogue stared at her before she facepalmed. "Ah should've seen that coming." She muttered.

"Why do you ask?" Her friend questioned.

"Ah… Ah have the sneaking suspicion that she may have... _Violated _Gavin." The southern belle said with a slight hiss.

"Oh…" The British girl replied with a concerned look. "I really hope that's not the case. Poor boy will fall apart if it is." She said, her features never losing their concerned look.

"Why do you say that?" Rogue asked.

"Because this isn't the first time Raven's done something like that." Risty sighed. Rogue looked at her in confusion.

'_What in the world does that mean?' _She wondered in her head.

"But let's not worry about it now. Besides, we have a geometry test tomorrow." The British girl said as they went to class.

(Elsewhere)

-_Office of Emma Frost Psychiatrist PHD, Manhattan, New York-_

Emma was currently sitting in her office going over some of her paperwork when she got a knock on her office door. "It's open!" The woman said as a woman walked in.

She was a woman with dark skin and hair and blue eyes. But as soon as she closed the door, she changed her appearance, showing that in actuality, she was Mystique.

"Raven? What are you doing here?" The telepath asked as she looked up.

"Emma, it has been a while hasn't it? If I remember correctly we hadn't really seen each other face to face since…" The shapeshifter said as she tried to think.

"The Cuban Missile Crisis. Yes, I'm aware." Emma finished with narrowed eyes. "What could you possibly need from me?" She questioned. "Don't tell me you and Azazel have gotten back together again? Last I remember you two ended up trying to kill each other after you found out he got you pregnant."

"Says the woman who used to work for Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire club, honestly and you called that thing you wore an outfit? You looked like a done up whore." Mystique jabbed back at the former 'White Queen'.

"I don't appreciate you bringing up those short sighted fools. I left them for a reason: Shaw wanted to destroy mutants by making us seem like the enemy. And I could not stand by that." The woman sighed. "Now, I ask again, why are you here?"

"I'd like to ask a favor of you." The blue skinned woman stated.

"And what might that be?" The platinum blonde asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A recommendation to a good doctor, preferably one that gives accurate paternity tests." The shapeshifter stated clearly. Emma blinked in response.

"Why?" She asked in confusion.

"Well, it's a little embarrassing. You see I was at a club recently and I had a little too much to drink that night and the next thing I know I wake up in a hotel room, completely nude with a young man still inside me." The woman told the mutant psychologist. "And then a week later I found out I was pregnant."

"Surely you _can't_ be serious." Emma said incredulously.

"Of course I'm serious, and don't call me Shirley." The shapeshifter told the blonde, causing her to facepalm. She had walked right into that one.

"Dammit." She cursed, causing the blue skinned shape shifter to laugh lightly in response.

"I'm sorry, but that was too tempting to pass up." She said, still laughing.

"Fine, I know a doctor who gives paternity tests with up to 98.9% accuracy. I'll send you a referral." The blonde sighed. "But in return, I suggest you allow me to see the results."

"Fair enough." The red haired shape shifter shrugged. "I will come back with them as soon as I have them." She said as she got up and turned to leave. "Goodbye Emma."

"Goodbye." Emma said as she left.

(Elsewhere)

Back in Bayville High, Gavin, Devin, Kurt and Evan were all in chemistry with their regular teacher, Hank McCoy, who they knew was also a mutant due to him knowing about them acting as a second doctor at the Institute. Currently they were all listening to an explanation about molecules and their stability.

Well, Kurt and Devin were, Evan was making a car out of erasers and tacks while Gavin was still bent over what happened between him and Mystique, it was honestly driving him insane.

'_What the hell happened back there?' _He wondered absently with a frown. '_Maybe I should ask the professor to see if he can help me remember.'_

His thoughts were interrupted, however, when Evan's eraser car rolled off a ruler and knocked him in the head. The vampire fan yelped quietly before looking at the bone shooting mutant.

"Can you not do that again? Seriously, that ain't cool." He told him with a frown.

"Sorry." Evan said before he looked out the window, seeing his friends outside on their skateboards.

Gavin turned back to to the lesson at hand and tried to keep his mind off of what happened, he was trying so hard in fact that he hadn't noticed Evan leave and didn't snap out of it until Mr. McCoy stumbled onto one of the desks, clutching his head in pain. Gavin shook his head clear of any other thoughts before he looked at his teacher.

"Professor, are you okay?" He asked in concern, rushing up to him. "Come on, let's get you out of here before you break something. Devin, Kurt, come on!" He said before calling out to his brother and the teleporting mutant.

"Right/Got it." Devin and Kurt replied respectively.

The two boys led their teacher to the bathroom where he could try and calm himself by cooling himself down with some water, but they were soon startled as a sink from the bathroom crashed through the door, knocking it of its hinges and shattering against a row of lockers, which crumpled from the impact.

Hesitating, the three boys looked into the bathroom where their chemistry professor stood there, gripping his head as he gritted his teeth in pain like he was having a really bad migraine.

"This is not going to end well." Kurt noted nervously, the other two boys nodding their heads in agreement..

Suddenly, Hank charged at them prompting them to turn tail and run."

(Elsewhere)

-_Bayville Park, later that day-_

Evan was in the middle of the park when he suddenly heard Hank McCoy reciting Shakespeare in the old theatre. And when he went to investigate, he saw Kurt, and the Shirakumo Twins panting their lungs out behind a tree several yards away from it.

"What the heck happened to you three?" He asked.

"It's Mr. McCoy, he vent crazy during chemistry today." Kurt panted

"We followed him down here to help him clear his head, and he's been reciting Shakespeare for the past _hour!_" Gavin added.

"He just recited the Tempest, all five acts, from _memory_!" Devin gasped as he plopped on the ground in exhaustion.

"Yikes… I'm gonna check on him. Hopefully his head is clear enough by now for him to talk." Evan said hopefully before he made his way to the ampitheatre's stage. Once he got there, he saw that his chemistry teacher was leaning on the wall while reciting another passage from Shakespeare.

Though as soon as the spiked mutant tried to talk to the man, he was immediately cornered, the chemistry and PE teacher having a wild look in his eyes as his hands cracked the wall behind the boy.

"Whoa whoa whoa, teach! Calm down. It's me, it's Evan! Come on, don't you remember?" He asked, feeling more than a little intimidated.

The other three boys also tried to calm the man down, having just recovered from their exhaustion about two minutes or so before this occurred.. After a moment of their teacher struggling, he managed to get a grip on himself.

"Oh… I'm, sorry boys, I guess I lost my head for a moment there." Hank told them as he covered his eyes with one of his large hands.

"That would be an understatement." Gavin stated rather curtly.

"Should we take him to Prof X?" Evan asked.

"Yes. It would be wise for them to talk after this particular incident." Devin stated.

"Yeah, but for now…" Gavin nodded as the four boys supported the man and started to walk him to his house. "Come on Mr. McCoy, let's go ahead and get you home."

"Yes, thank you boys for your assistance." The chemistry teacher and PE coach replied gratefully as they helped him get home.

Later that day after the four had gotten their teacher home in his den to rest, they went to the Institute to tell the professor what happened, only for all four of them to remember that they had a danger room session starting in six minutes.

"Shittopia, we're gonna be late!" Gavin yelped as he checked his watch.

"If we don't get back soon, we are _so _gonna be in the dog house!" Evan added before he, Devin and Gavin turned to Kurt.

"Kurt!" All three of the boys yelled.

"Vay ahead of you!" The fuzz ball nodded as he teleported them to the Institute.

_-At the Institute-_

The four boys appeared in, oddly enough, Gavin's room. Before said boy could ask why, Kurt started talking.

"I'll drop each of you off in your rooms so we can speed this up!" He explained quickly before teleporting away with Devin and Evan. Gavin blinked before scrambling to get his uniform on.

In the danger room, the training session was about to start, which was being led by Storm and Chelsea, and the boys just barely arrived with mere seconds to spare.

"You're cutting it close today guys, care to explain why?" The blonde dragoness asked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"Can we save the explanation for after this is over?" Devin asked.

"All I wanna say is that if I ever hear another Shakespeare line again, it'll be too soon." Gavin stated as he adjusted his plated arm guards. His statement made Chelsea and Ororo blink in confusion.

"Um… Huh?" Was all the fire breather of the Institute could say.

"Like Devin said, we'll explain once this session is over." Evan said as he adjusted his forearm guards.

With that, their training began. Which was basically a timed obstacle course where they had to get from one end to the other, and they were being attacked by Storm who was hurling metal balls at them, and Chelsea, who was breathing fire at them from above.

Devin turned his hands into hammers and whacked away a few of the metal balls away from him. Gavin, meanwhile, was using his smoke pseudo-telekinesis technique to control Bloodfallen and slice up balls that tried to hit the others and shoot any that got past him with Devil's Ruin and Devil's Scorn.

Evan was getting chased by Chelsea who was trying to breath fire at his skateboard's wheels, but was being held back by having to fly up in the air to avoid getting toothpicked. Kurt was leaping over and ducking under and spheres that came his way while teleporting out of the way of any he couldn't leap over or duck under in time.

When they were in the home stretch, everyone was watching each other's backs, but when Rogue got hit by one of the balls, Gavin dove in to save her and ran towards the platform which Kurt was keeping set for them, despite being under heavy dragon fire.

The pseudo vampire was carrying the auburn haired southern belle in a bridal style most of the way, right until he got hit in the back of the head with one of the balls. As he dropped to the ground. Rogue tumbled as well, and when he got up and shook his head, he got flashes, memories of what happened the night he was with Mystique. But he couldn't worry about that now, he had a job to do.

"Come on! Ve're running out of time!" Kurt called.

"I know!" Gavin called back as he picked Rogue up and continued his way to the platform. Luckily, Scott met them half way and took Rogue before the three managed to get on, ending the exercise with three seconds to spare.

As the simulation ended, Ororo and Chelsea walked up to them to tell them how they did on the exercise. The African weather witch was the one to go first.

"Well done everyone, Kurt, good show of restraint by not leaving until everyone was on board." Storm noted.

"Yeah, nice play of no one gets left behind blue, real good character there." Chelsea agreed before turning to Gavin who was rubbing the knot on the back of his skull that was still healing. "However, Gavin, I know you care a lot about Rogue but that doesn't mean you gotta be a white knight all the time. Keep this in mind: If you're always watching everyone else's backs, there's no one there to watch yours."

"Yeah… Yeah, sure." Gavin replied as he rubbed his head.

"Alright everyone, go ahead and get washed up." The silver haired woman told them.

(Later)

Gavin was walking to Xavier's office and had just knocked on the door. "Hey Prof, you there?" He asked.

"Yes Gavin, come in." The man's voice said. As the boy entered, he saw Mr. McCoy was there too.

"Oh, Mr. McCoy. How are you feeling?" Gavin asked.

"A bit better Gavin, thank you. I was actually just about to leave." The man said as he walked past him. Gavin stopped him quickly, though.

"Here." The boy said as he handed him a business card to Emma Frost's office. "If you still need to get your head together, I suggest going to this address. Ms. Frost is by far the best therapist I know, I mean, she's helped me control my powers." He said with confidence in said woman's abilities.

"Hm… I'll give it some thought." Hank said as he took the card and walked out.

Gavin then went and sat down with Xavier and then took a deep breath. "Hey, Prof? Mind if I ask a favor of you?" He asked the man.

"What is it you need, Gavin?" The headmaster of the Institute asked.

"I need you to go inside my head and rattle around any memories I have of that night with Mystique. The suspense is killing me, and I can't get my mind off of it. I _need _you to help me here." He told the telepath.

Xavier looked at him before thinking for a moment. He sighed when he was done.

"Very well, Gavin. But before I begin, I wish to warn you that what I find may be… Traumatizing… Are you sure you wish to know?" He asked warily.

"Prof, you're talking to a guy who has several aspects of his personality locked behind seals in his head. I think I can handle a few memories." The pseudo vampire stated confidently.

"The nature of the memories is what concerns me the most." Xavier replied.

"Have you met my level one personality? That part of me is the reason why I had to spend two years in porn rehab." Gavin retorted. "Trust me, whatever this looks like, I can take it."

Xavier sighed once more. "I hope that's true… For your sake." He said before gesturing for him to take a seat. Once Gavin was seated, he began to relax his mind so the aged telepath could do his work.

What was revealed was, simply put, the raunchiest scene that either had ever seen. To put it mildly, it put Stranger in a Strange land and Thirty Shades of Grey to shame. It even made the two works in question seem tame and harmless.

Mystique had indeed drugged Gavin, but not in the way one would expect. The drugs she used was a cocktail that did one thing: Drive the young man's libido so high that he became a sex zombie. And it went extraordinarily well; he had dominated Mystique, turned her into his plaything, he had fucked her in so many ways that they did positions that probably didn't even have a name. And he enjoyed it, being with an older woman; her assets were very nice to squeeze and she was satisfying to bang. And he didn't even give it a second thought before he finished and most definitely impregnated her, not that the woman minded of course, judging by how her face was very satisfied.

The instant Xavier withdrew from Gavin's mind, the boy sat still as a statue… Before he got up and roared in murderous rage as he reduced the chair he was in to splinters.

"HOW DARE SHE DO THAT TO ME!" He thundered murderously. Normally, Charles would reprimand him for his outbursts of anger, but he felt that this was _extremely _justified.

"Now Gavin please, I understand how you feel, and your anger is very much justified, but please do not do anything rash, or you could end up doing something you'll regret." Xavier told the boy.

Gavin took several deep breaths as he calmed down before he turned back to the telepath. "Don't worry…" He replied as he continued breathing deeply. "I'm not gonna kill her, if that's what you think. I _refuse _to end a life before it's begun. But…" Here, he looked down. "I'd like a couple of weeks off from school. This… Revelation makes me feel that going to school is a bad idea right now." He confessed.

"A sound judgement. Though, you speak against the possibility of ending Mystique's hypothetical pregnancy like you have experience in the matter." The man stated.

"I do… Me and Devin, our mom almost aborted us." The boy nodded. This revelation made Xavier actually look shocked. Gavin and Devin were almost aborted? "She was scared, she was supposed to be investigating our dad's ties to the Yakuza by getting close to him, and then found out that in the course of that, she not only started to love him, but was also pregnant with his children. You can imagine how damaging that could have been to her career."

"Yes I can." He nodded. "Though obviously she didn't go through with it." Xavier added as well.

"Damn right she didn't. Now she's got two badass sons in her life." Gavin said with a grin as he folded his arms.

"Now I see why you are so passionate about this." The telepath agreed. "Well then Gavin, we can discuss this more in the morning. For now though, how about you get some rest? It's been a very long day."

The boy nodded as he left the office, he was right, it had been a long day.

(A few hours later)

Gavin was sleeping soundly in his coffin when someone started knocking on it. Opening the lid and taking off his night mask he saw Scott kneeling there. "What?" The boy asked with a yawn.

"We need your help. Something's happened with Mr. McCoy and everyone's being called in to help." He explained.

Without even answering, Gavin leapt up and put on his costume and got his weapons. "Then let's go already." The pseudo vampire said.

Everyone started searching the streets of Bayville and they were trying to find Hank before the police. Luckily though, Gavin was able to track him easily by listening to his specific footsteps, a trick he learned from Bast.

'_Note to self: Thank Bast for teaching me how to track people via their footsteps.'_ He thought, feeling thankful to said catwoman for teaching him things.

They were able to follow him to several places: Once to an old warehouse, once to a scrap hat and once to the docs, but it wasn't until he continued to head north that Evan, Kurt and the twins realized what he was doing.

"He's going to get his head together!" The four said in unison before pointing at each other. "Jinx!" They then decided to head the now ape-like mutant off at the old theatre, and sure enough, the giant blue fur ball was there. When they found him, Kurt called everyone and let them know where he was before turning his attention to the situation at hand.

"Mr. McCoy, we know you're in there. Come on, fight back!" Evan said encouragingly.

"Yeah! This is your body, not some creature's! It's your body, and yours alone!" Gavin said in agreement.

Their words seemed to fall on deaf ears as the beast their teacher had turned into lunged at them, prompting them to dodge. Devin quickly acted and turned his arms into a vice grip, holding him in place while Gavin shot him with stun lasers that made him easier to pin down, which Kurt and Evan handled. Right about this time the others arrived too.

"Any ideas?" Kurt asked.

"He really does like Shakespeare, anyone know any lines?" Evan asked. "I knew one but I can't remember it."

"Oh _hell _no! I'm not going through that again!" Gavin snapped.

"Will you stop being such a baby and help us think of something?!" Devin yelled as Hank started to struggle.

"Okay, okay! Get off my back!" Gavin retorted before he started thinking. "Evan, didn't Mr. McCoy ask you to memorize a passage in exchange for not saying anything about you skipping class?"

"Vait, he did vhat now?" Kurt asked.

"Not important now, Wagner!" Devin snapped.

"Yeah he did, but I can't remember it." Evan told them. Hank's struggling began to increase when he said that.

"Better start remembering because I don't know how long I can hold him!" Devin urged.

"Let me think, let me think…" The blonde said before he remembered the line just in the Knick of time. "Okay I think I got it: Show his eyes and grieve his heart. Come like shadows; so depart! We shall neither show night nor day, hang upon his penthouse lid, he shall live a man forbid. Eyes nights, nine times nine, with each other peak and pine!"

This seemed to calm Hank down some, which allowed Gavin to stun him some more and allowed Kurt to teleport Professor X to their position, allowing the telepath to try and reach out to him mentally. As the man tried to reach out to the man turned Beast, Evan continued to recite the line from Macbeth that Hank had given him to help keep him calm.

(Hours later)

_-Xavier Institute-_

Xavier, the Twins, Evan and Kurt were now with Hank as he looked at himself in the mirror and sighed in dismay.

"What am I going to do now?" He asked himself.

"Well, Professor Xavier could give you an image inducer like Kurt's." Devin suggested.

"And look like whom? Hank McCoy? He's a wanted fugitive now. No, I can't. I can still feel it, inside, a beast inside of me waiting to claw itself out." The ape-like mutant sighed.

"You could get some control seals like me." Gavin suggested.

"A useful tool, but I fear it would only prolong the inevitable. No, what I feared all these years has finally come to pass, my teaching days are over." Hank said solemnly.

"Not if we have anything to say about it." Gavin intervened.

"Gavin's right, Mr. McCoy, you could teach here." Kurt nodded.

"Yeah teach, you'd fit in great here, plus I bet Bast would love to have some extra help in the med bay anyway." Evan added.

"Yes. Your teaching days aren't over. What you need are students who know your secret and can trust them with it." Xavier nodded.

Hank seemed to like this idea. "I suppose it's my best option, isn't it?" He said, which was answered with the four boys giving him a comforting group hug, which the man returned rather happily.

The group then joined everyone else in the kitchen as the Professor then decided to introduce Hank to them all.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet our newest faculty member." Xavier stated.

"It's nice to see you again, Hank." Bast said with a wave.

"Thank you Bast, but from this day on, I'm not just Hank or Mr. McCoy. Call me, Beast." Beast told them with a slight smile on his face.

(Elsewhere)

_-Emma Frost's office-_

Emma was now holding the copy of the paternity tests Mystique had taken, and had just read over them, and now her hands were shaking in anger as they suddenly turned to diamond.

"Mystique… You vile, intolerable, manipulative, god forsaken _bitch!" _She growled with enough anger to make great white sharks swim away from her in terror.

The results made it very clear. The father of the shapeshifter's latest spawn, was none other than her favorite patient and son of her dear friend Amanda: Gavin Shirakumo.

"There will be hell to pay, I promise you that!" The blonde growled before groaning. "How am I going to explain this to his mother?!"


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28: There's More Than One Way To A Dragon's Heart**

True to Gavin's little moment, he took some time off from school to get his head together. Everyone else (minus Kai and Jamie) protested, but when Charles revealed the reason with Gavin's permission, everyone was horrified before it swiftly turned into outrage. Kurt couldn't stop himself from feeling ashamed of being related to Mystique, not that anyone blamed him.

Rogue didn't hesitate to throw her arms around the pseudo vampire and hug him tightly, which Gavin honestly returned before he started crying his eyes out.

Bast wanted to personally hunt the blue skinned shapeshifter down and claw her eyes out, but Gavin told her not to bother.

Devin had to muster every amount of willpower he had to keep himself from going after Mystique, if only to give her a scar for she had done to his brother.

Chelsea's reaction was the most explosive. She nearly went full dragon in a fit of murderous rage had Logan not calmed her down… though a few small fire breaths did escape her mouth to make her anger known.

Currently the blonde was stomping around the courtyard in a huff while both Jean and Ororo stood there with Bast and Kai to keep her from going nuts.

"Chelsea, I know you're angry, but this just isn't the way to go about it." Ororo told her as the dragoness just kept stomping back and forth, causing several depression marks in the grass.

"I can't help it. Mystique did _that _to Gavin, and we're just… GAH!" She tried to say before throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

"Trust us, we're not happy about it either." Jean stated.

"What we should really be worried about is what she's gonna end up doing with the kid once it's born." Bast noted.

"I just hope she won't hand it over to HYDRA." Kai said with a shudder.

"If she does that, then she's as good as dead." Chelsea growled. Though a second later she stiffened, her ears picking up the faint sound of a voice.

"_Help! Help!" _It said.

"You guys hear that?" She asked the other women. They just looked at her in confusion.

"Hear what?" Kai asked.

"A voice. It sounds like it's coming from…" The Dragoness trailed as she followed the sound of the voice, the others following as well, they went into the woods until Chelsea came upon a small box tortoise that was flipped over on its back and couldn't get up. The voice was coming from it, and apparently, only Chelsea could hear it.

"_Help me! I can't get up!" _It squeaked, which caused the blonde's eyes to widen in surprise.

"Um… What?" She muttered in confusion. Deciding to test the figurative waters, she flipped the tortoise upright to see what would happen.

"_Thank you! Thank you! I'm so happy to be back right side up again." _It said in a cute squeaky voice before nuzzling it's head into Chelsea's hand. "_Thank you, nice human lady." _It squeaked again.

"Um… You're welcome?" She replied awkwardly. After that the tortoise started walking away. "Okay that was weird."

"What?" Bast asked.

"I… Think I can talk to reptiles now." The woman replied. This caused the others to blink as they looked at each other in confusion.

"That is weird." Kai agreed.

"I… I need to go take a shower, a cold one. This is way too heavy for me." Chelsea said as she put her hand on her head and started heading back to the Institute.

Once she was inside, she grabbed the robe she had gotten when she moved in and removed her clothes before putting it on and going into her personal bathroom. As she entered, she discarded her robe and looked at her currently naked form.

Her hand then drifted to the spot where her tracker used to be as she turned around, and in that spot on the back of her shoulder blade: There was a spot where the scar tissue made it clear that part of her flesh had been completely removed.

This caused a memory that Emma had suppressed to resurface, which luckily was very, _very _rare.

(Flashback)

Chelsea was strapped down to a metal examination table face down in the same lab room that Rowner kept bringing her into and a massive syringe full of some sort of green liquid hung over her as Rowner stood there with a control device in his hand.

"What are you planning on doing _this _time, Rowner, you sick son of a bitch?" The woman hissed.

"What you ask? I intend to mark you as our property, of course." The man said as he pressed a button and the syringe lowered over her left shoulder. "This contraption here will engrave your flesh with a permanent reminder of who you belong to, HYDRA. Think of it like getting a tattoo, but instead of ink, we're using _acid_."

With a push of the button in his hand, the syringe dove into Chelsea's skin and started injecting the acid into her while moving around, forming the HYDRA symbol on the back of her shoulder.

Throughout the whole procedure, Chelsea screamed in pain.

(Flashback End)

Chelsea shook her head. That was not something that tied her down anymore. The day she tore that chunk from her shoulder was the day she discarded HYDRA's claws.

With that she crawled into the shower and washed herself off, cooling herself down. About a half hour later she got out and got dressed in a new pair of red jeans and a grey tank top that she had bought a few weeks earlier. After she got dressed, she went down to the garage and saw Logan there having a beer, and the scraggly man immediately took notice of how his blonde companion looked, shaken up and all.

"You look like something shook you up." He noted.

"A couple things did, yeah." She nodded.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" The man questioned while drinking the beer in his hand. "Not to be nosey or anything, but your mood's kinda cramping the atmosphere of my drinking."

"Gimme a drink so I can stop doing that, then." She shot back.

"Okay, no need to bite my head off." Logan said as he handed her a beer. "But seriously, what's eating at you?" When she looked at him like she wanted him to shut up, he looked at her with firm eyes. "Scales, come on, you know you can tell me."

Chelsea looked at him before she sighed tiredly, something that didn't sound right in Logan's head.

"It's three things. The first is what happened to Gavin, which I'm actually still pissed off about. The second thing is I just found out I can talk to reptiles, and the third is…" Here, she sighed again. "That memory Emma suppressed resurfaced." She finally said.

"Which one?" Logan asked firmly, placing his hand on her shoulder.

The Dragoness sighed as she turned around, showing him the scarred area on her shoulder. "The memory of when that _bastard _Rowner tried to brand me by etching HYDRA's symbol in my back tattoo style with acid."

"... _What_?" The man snapped as he gripped his bottle tightly.

"Yeah, but I removed that thing by ripping out my own skin, sure it hurt like hell, but I wasn't about to let those monsters brand me like I'm cattle." She snapped back.

"I swear if I ever come across any of them I'm going to tear them limb from limb." Logan spat while taking a long draw of his beer.

"Pretty sure Gavin would want in on that." The blonde chuckled.

The scraggly mutant gently ran his hand over the scared area of the woman's flesh. "Does it still, ya know, hurt?" He asked.

Chelsea shook her head in response."Nah. It stopped hurting ages ago." She replied with a shrug. "It's a real eyesore though, makes me wish I had a better healing factor."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad. Trust me, I've seen worse." The man told her while looking at the scar. He wasn't entirely wrong, the scar was hardly noticeable, it just seemed like she had a slight divot in her skin.

"I… guess you're right." She said reluctantly, though the way he subtly complemented her made her blush.

"Hey, why don't we go to Hogan's to get your mind off of things?" He asked her. She looked at him before she nodded.

"That'd be nice." She replied with a small smile. As they got on Logan's motorcycle to leave, Gavin closed the door which he had cracked open. His face had a look that promised death to those who received his ire.

"That. Is the last. _Fucking. _Straw!" He growled as he stormed off.

(Elsewhere)

-_Hogan's Streetside Bar-_

Logan and Chelsea had spent the last few hours drinking and playing pool together, and the blonde haired woman was now starting to feel a _little _tipsy, so her clawed companion was keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid, or no one would take advantage of her. He already saw one person he cared about have that done to him, so he wasn't about to let the one person he understood the most to go through the same bullshit.

Unfortunately though, fate had other ideas… As the blonde had finished yet another glass of brandy, Bud, one of the usuals at the bar and a six foot muscle bound biker sleaze ball, walked up to her and started flirting with her while she was still very much inebriated.

"Hey there Goldie locks, how's it goin'?" The man asked her while leaning against the bar.

"I dunno, what do you think?" Chelsea slurred with a drunk smile. Logan looked at Bud and growled.

"Back off, Bud. She's with me." He told him with a glare.

"Aw come on Logan, ya can't just hog all the women to yourself. Save some for the rest of us." Bud said while looking back at Chelsea. "So, sweets, what say you and me go somewhere else and shoot around a few rounds?" He said this while raising a hand to her hair. "I mean look at you, you're not too big, not too lean, just right, and this hair… It's just the perfect reason to bring you along with me."

_That_ got Logan to react. He immediately grabbed Bud's hand tightly and sent him a death glare. "I said, hands _off._" He growled.

Chelsea looked at him in drunken confusion. "What's got you all hot under the collar?" She asked him.

"Nothin', Chels. Just morons who don't know when to _take a damn hint._" He replied, growling the last part out.

Bud gulped slightly, Logan was known for starting viscous bar fights when someone pushed his buttons too much. So he backed off. "Alright Logan, I can take a hint. Sheesh, if you two were already dating ya shoulda just said so." The man shrugged while backing away.

The metal boned man calmed down before turning to Chelsea, who was still downing glass after glass. Knowing full well that this situation would most likely repeat itself if they stayed longer, he decided to stop her from drinking.

"Alright, Chels, I think that's enough for tonight." He told her, paying the tab she had racked up.

"What? Aw~ come on Logan! Why youuu gotta be such a buzzkill?" She slurred as she tried to snatch the drink he took from her, only to stumble and was about to fall on her face. Acting fast, Logan reached his arm out and caught her by her stomach.

"I rest my case." He deadpanned. He then slung her over his shoulder and then started to carry her out of the bar, though a bunch of the other patrons were making wolf whistles and catcalls at the woman the whole way. This pissed off Logan even more than he already has, in fact he felt something that he hadn't felt in ages: protective jealousy, the same kind a guy would have when his girlfriend was being hit on.

"Piss off, all of you!" He shouted at the other patrons, making them clam up and go back to what they were doing. Satisfied, he left the bar with Chelsea and went back to the Institute, though in hindsight he kinda regretted choosing his motorcycle instead of a car.

Once they got back to the Institute, Logan helped the blonde dragoness into their usual hangout area of the garage and let her collapse on the couch in the room.

Chelsea sighed as hiccups started to plague her. "Heeey Logan? *hic* Ya wanna know something?" She asked in a drunken voice as she laid there on the couch.

"What?" Logan sighed, figuring it would just be the booze talking.

"Come here and I'll tell ya." She told him. Sighing, the man walked over to her and kneeled down so she could whisper in his ear. "I wanted to thank you for helping me back there. And helping me with HYDRA, being there when I need someone to talk to, and helping me get used to things around here, it really means a lot. And I also really want cha to know that… I like you… I like you a _lot._" She whispered.

Logan looked at her in shock, but before he could dismiss it as the booze talking like he initially thought, Chelsea suddenly pulled him to her and kissed him on the lips.

The man tried to do his best not to fumble around like some awkward teenager who was caught off guard, but failed miserably as the blonde's currently forked tongue weaved it's way through his mouth. By the time the two separated, Logan was ready to ask her what the hell that was all about, he saw that she was fast asleep.

Logan looked down at the sleeping woman in shock. Did he really just hear her right? And did really just do what he thought she just did? Or was he dreaming? Shaking his head, he decided to head back to his room to crash for the night.

(The next day)

Waking up with a groan, Chelsea looked around and noticed she was in the garage. She then remembered what happened last night before she blushed hard when she realized that she had kissed Logan. For some reason, she didn't really mind.

"Why the fuck did I say all of that all at once? Did I really get _that_ drunk last night?" She asked herself as she took some medicine.

After that was done, she headed to the dining room for breakfast. When she got into the kitchen, she saw Logan sitting on the counter reading the newspaper while drinking some coffee.

"Ya know you can just watch the news station to see what's going on, right?" She asked him as she got some coffee as well and sat next to him.

"Yeah, but it doesn't give you time to process anything." The scraggly man replied as he took a sip of coffee.

"Fair enough." The blonde nodded as the two fell into a, luckily, in awkward silence. "So… Logan, about last night, I just wanted to say that-" she started to say before Logan cut her off.

"It was the booze talking, right?" He asked.

"..." Chelsea was silent for a few minutes. "I wish…" She whispered underneath her breath.

The others started to take notice of their conversation as well. "What are they talking about?" Kai asked Amara.

"Shhh! Let's listen." The girl told her roommate.

Logan's trained ears picked up Chelsea's whisper. "Wait, you mean that was all for real?" He asked with a bit of surprise.

"I mean, yeah? Maybe? I don't know, it's honestly kinda confusing me right now honestly." She answered.

"Yeah, you and me both." The clawed mutant replied as he scratched the back of his head.

"Listen, let's not talk about this until we're both sure, okay? Way too much drama going on here as it is." The blonde told him.

"Sounds like a plan." Logan nodded in agreement.

A few weeks passed since then and the two were able to basically go about things like they usually would without any awkwardness, and both had been thinking about how they felt towards each other for a bit to see where they stood on the matter of them… 'liking' the other. Chelsea was able to figure it out rather quickly since she'd always liked Logan from the get go. However, Logan was a bit slower to decide on how he felt. Though that didn't stop him from still constantly getting angry when other guys tried to hit on Chelsea, which made the Dragoness feel both flattered and offended.

"Ya know, I know you're jealous, but you do realize you don't have to start a bar fight with every douchebag who tries to come onto me, right? I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She told him as they arrived back at the mansion after the third outing turned bar fight that particular week.

"I'm just following my instincts. Not my fault it's hard to ignore them." Logan shrugged. "And who said I was jealous? Last I checked we ain't exactly a couple yet."

"Yeah, about that, I think it's time we finally discuss it." Chelsea stated. "Seriously, I think we've had plenty of time to think about it."

Logan looked at the blond dragoness before he sighed. "Alright. Let's head somewhere private." He told her. She nodded before the two made their way to their hangout spot in the garage.

"So, what conclusion did you end up coming to?" Logan asked as he sat on the couch with Chelsea beside him.

"... I'm just gonna say it. I've liked you from the get-go." The blonde replied bluntly. "I mean that as in I pretty much liked you as a friend at first, but as time went on… Well, let's just say that us getting so close and having so much in common kinda made me like you _way _more than I originally thought."

"Well at least you were able to figure it out pretty quick. Me, though…" Here, the scraggly man sighed. "I don't know why, but I'm having trouble sorting this out on my end." He said. When Chelsea seemed to take this as a rejection, he decided to clarify. "What I mean is: every woman I've ever been with has either betrayed me, died because of me, or left because they couldn't understand or just couldn't get past my faults. But you, Chels? You're probably the only woman who I ever really got along with and still was able to understand what I've been through. And I can say for certain that it's the same way with you."

Chelsea listened as he talked. "Alright…" She nodded.

"What I'm trying to say is, I've lived long enough to know a woman that's not a good fit for me, and you, Chelsea?" He said before he chuckled. "Well, you're probably the only woman I've met in my life that was a better fit than all those women from my past put together." He then turned back to her and looked her in her emerald green eyes. "So to answer your question? Yeah Scales, I like you. Probably more than I should, but I like you. And I don't really think that'll change with how things are going."

Chelsea smiled at him with a pretty happy look on her face before she pulled Logan in for another kiss, this time being sober. The wolverine was easily able to return the favor and kiss her back even harder, the two falling back on the couch as they did so.

Two broken souls that had been able to mend had just joined together. A greater whole had been formed. Whether it will stay that way or not? Well, only time would tell.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29: Adrift Amongst the Waves **

Months had passed since Logan and Chelsea had 'officially' started dating. A revelation that made everyone else at the Institute happy for the two, especially Bast, Kai and Gavin since they always thought the two were practically made for each other.

Right now, it was the month of December and the winter cold had set in and white powdery snow had fallen all over the mansion. Everyone else was really happy about it, especially Kai who'd never seen snow before. Well, everyone except Chelsea, who's reptilian mutation made her become _very _sluggish and made her sleep in until noon most days, and she spent most of her time inside near heating sources to work on her school work while Gavin gave her hot chocolate to help her out a bit.

Speaking of the pseudo vampire, even after his little episode, he still showed signs of being affected even when he was in school. Rogue didn't hesitate to spend every moment she could spare with him. When his mother heard about what had happened, she almost broke several speed limits in a panic on her way to the Institute to comfort her son.

"Thanks for coming, mom." Gavin sighed as he laid his head on her shoulder, his eyes closed as he enjoyed his mother's embrace.

"Of course baby." She told him as she stroked his head. Right at that moment, Chelsea was entering the room with Bast behind her, the latter trying to help the former not fall over from grogginess.

"Hey guys." The groggy dragoness greeted tiredly.

"Hello." Amanda Shirakumo said as she got up. "I don't believe we've met, I'm Amanda, Gavin and Devin's mother."

"Chelsea *yawn* Marks. I'm one of the teachers here." The woman said before she gestured to Bast. "This is Bast, she's the Institute's nurse."

"Your son's kinda become like a little brother to Chelsea here, she's pretty protective towards him." Bast chuckled as her cat tail wiggled around.

"I bet." Amanda chuckled in agreement. "If _she _wasn't in her current state, I'd snap her damn neck." She added with an angry look, referring to Mystique and how she was pregnant with her grandson.

"Oh trust me Amanda, we were all upset." Chelsea nodded. "I personally was absolutely livid."

Amanda seemed to be glad that they were on the same page. "If I may ask, what is your… Mutation, exactly?" She asked the blonde and middle Eastern woman.

"Well, I'm part cat, but that's pretty obvious." Bast replied as she gestured to her body, Amanda looking like she wanted to nuzzle the anthropomorphic cat woman, but resisted.

"Mine basically makes me *yawn* part reptile, but I'm a dragon when I transform. It's part of the reason I'm so *yawn* tired." Chelsea explained through a few yawns.

"Oh." The woman nodded before Kurt suddenly walked in, his image inducer causing him to appear very… Well, fat.

This sight caused Gavin to start laughing as he rolled right off the couch. Kurt looked over at them in confusion. "Vhat's so funny?" He asked.

"You're so damn fat!" Gavin replied through his laughter.

"Huh?" The fuzzy mutant said as he looked down. "Oh." He nodded as he turned his appearance back to normal. Then he noticed Amanda. "Hello, I'm Kurt Vagner, who are you?" The boy asked her.

"Amanda, I'm Gavin and Devin's mother." The woman told him. "I take it you're that Mystique woman's son, right?"

"Unfortunately." He replied with a sour face as he looked off to the side. He then sighed. "I don't even know vhat got into her head, and if I'm being honest, I don't vant to know."

"I can understand that." Amanda nodded.

"I'm gonna go get some hot chocolate, wanna come?" Gavin asked the group as he got up.

"Oh, I could go for some of that right now." The tired blonde moaned in delight at the mention of winter's traditional drink.

"I'll have mine with coffee." Bast nodded.

"Same." Kurt added.

As the group entered the kitchen, they saw Logan and Jean in there already. Chelsea decided to sit next to Logan as Gavin poured her some hot chocolate while Amanda decided to sit with Bast and Jean, and Kurt sat on the counter with Gavin. As they were in there, Devin entered just as a report of a tropical storm named Ghideon had just been upgraded to a category one hurricane and had made landfall in Hawaii.

"Wait, isn't Scott over there visiting his brother?" Kurt asked.

"If I recall correctly, that's exactly where they are." Devin nodded before his face contorted as he tried to hold in a laugh. "Kurt… What on earth did you do to your head?"

His words caused everyone to look at the blue furball. Upon seeing what happened to him, Amanda had to try her best to stifle her giggle, Jean looked shocked, Bast was chuckling along with Chelsea and Logan was grinning in amusement.

Gavin laughed until he accidentally stubbed his toe on the counter, causing him to yelp and hop around as his foot throbbed in pain. And surprisingly enough, Devin started to do the same thing, as if he felt his brother's pain as well.

"What's up with you two?" Chelsea asked as she sipped her cocoa.

"It's the twin jinx." Amanda explained. "Every time these two feel pain within a foot of each other, one feels the other's pain and vice versa."

"I thought that was a myth." Jean inputted.

"Oh it's real, my sister Barbara and I are the same way." The woman explained.

"Well that's weird as fuck." Chelsea noted as the boys calmed down.

"You guys don't think Scott was dumb enough to go surfing in that weather, do you?" Jean asked, changing the topic.

"Scott? Hell no, he's too much of a stickler." Gavin said.

"Gavin!" His mother hissed angrily.

"What? He is. Alex though? I'll bet my whole collection of Vampirella the Vampire Queen comics that he's out there right now." The boy continued.

"I do hope you're wrong about that." Bast commented in concern.

"Ditto." Chelsea replied with a yawn.

After getting warmed up, they all went outside and saw the rest of the residents of the mansion in the middle of a snowball fight that was being supervised by Beast.

"Hey guys, what's goin-_WHOA_!" The pseudo vampire said before he had to duck so he could avoid getting hit with a snowball, only for it to hit Chelsea dead center in the face. Everyone froze where they stood as they looked at the dragoness nervously. Seconds passed before she… fell backwards and started snoring.

"Cold temperatures… it really does knock her out." Gavin said as he then got an idea. "Hey guys, help me move her into the snow." The New Mutants all chuckled as they helped him drag the blonde into the snow and then Jamie and Kai started helping them bury and pack her into a covering of snow, which they shaped to look like an angel.

Amanda could only shake her head with a chuckle at her son's antics as she watched him and his friends work.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Devin asked Bast. "I mean she is technically part reptile."

"She's still warm blooded, she'll be fine as long as we make sure to wake her up later." The cat woman said.

"Alright." The metal mutant said with a bit of wariness about leaving Chelsea buried in snow.

After that was finished the snowball fight resumed, Rogue even joining in for a bit until they all took a break after Beast turned it into a 'mutant' snowball fight.

"Ah'm Anne Marie, but everyone calls me Rogue. It's nice to meet you, Miss Shirakumo." Rogue said as she introduced herself to the woman.

"It's nice to meet you too, dear. Gavin's told me so much about you." The woman smiled. "I must admit Rogue, the way he described how you looked, I was expecting to seem a little less… Well, cheerful. It's honestly surprising."

"Well, when Ah joined the Institute, Ah was pretty closed off. But thanks to Gavin and the others, that's started to really change." The southern girl said while stroking her hair, which was now long enough to reach the back of her shoulders.

"And the results show." Amanda nodded. "So… Not to sound like an overbearing mother, Rogue, but I don't suppose you and Gavin have started dating by any chance?"

The question made Rogue look at her in surprise before she started blushing lightly. "N-no, we're not." She stuttered… Though for some reason, the idea sounded appealing to her.

Gavin whipped his head around as soon as he heard that, his long black hair accidentally smacking Jean in the face. "Mom! Don't say stuff like that, it's weird! Sorry, Jean." He said before apologizing to the telepath.

"Oh don't even start. It's my job as your mother to know these things." The woman said matter of factly, all the while Devin was chuckling.

Gavin glared at his brother. "What's so funny?"

"Just how childish you're acting." He replied.

"This coming from a guy whose head over heels for his Adrenaline Junky friend, Roxy?" The pseudo vampire retorted, causing Amanda to look at him curiously.

"Oh really, now? Devin, is this true?" The mother of the two asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I-Don't know what you're talking about. Roxy and I are just friends, that's all." The Metal user denied with crossed arms.

"Mhm, suuuuuuure…" Amanda drawled, not buying it.

Right at that moment though, they were interrupted when Evan came outside. "Guys, I think you better have a look at this!" He said, pointing inside.

This caused Chelsea to wake up, finally, and found that she couldn't move and was surrounded by snow. "Okay, what the hell…?!" She growled tiredly.

"No time, come on let's go." Gavin said, which made the woman groan and breath fire on the snow to get out. After she was out, everyone quickly followed Evan inside and saw Ororo and Charles watching a news report, one saying that two boys were lost at sea as Hurricane Ghideon became a Category 3.

"Ororo, prepare the X-Jet." Charles ordered.

"Should we go with you?" Gavin asked.

"No, it's too dangerous." Xavier explained before turning to Amanda. "Besides, you and your mother still have a good bit of catching up to do."

"At least take me with ya, Chuck." Chelsea said. "I _really _need to get away from this cold weather."

The telepathic man looked at her and saw how desperate she was for a warmer climate. "Fair enough, I suppose." He nodded as they got ready to leave.

As soon as they left, Sam and Jamie came in with some snacks, one of which was a plate of garlic butter Texas toast. Gavin immediately turned the latter down and just took the offered PB&J crackers.

"Sorry, I'm allergic." He told the living cannonball.

"Oh. Sorry about that." Jamie replied.

"Wait, seriously?" Sam chuckled.

"Oh yes." Amanda added in. "It's genetic, his aunt has the same allergy. If they even swallow a little bit of garlic they…" She then puffed her face up to imitate swelling. "Puff up like a balloon."

"Oh." The two kids said before they all started to chuckle at the woman's face.

"Mom!" The boy snapped with an embarrassed blush, Rogue giggling beside him.

(Elsewhere)

_-Oceans of Hawaii-_

Scott gritted his teeth as he tried to keep a hold of Alex. What was supposed to be a simple surfing session turned into a fight to stay alive amongst the waves, and to make matters worse, they were right in the middle of a hurricane! The shaded teen just hoped funnel clouds didn't start forming.

"You and your big storms make massive breakers." He said to his younger brother.

"Hey, what can I say? Beach bums for life, bro." Alex chuckled nervously.

This moment of levity was ruined however when a massive funnel ground slammed down onto the water's surface, funneling and dragging them in. The boys struggled as the water pulled them in, but just when things seemed dire, the X-Jet appeared.

Storm stood on the roof as she opened the funnel cloud to stop its rampage, as she held it open, the bay door opened as Jean stood there and Chelsea turned into her dragon form to fly her over the boys so she could lift them onto the blonde dragoness's back.

Jean concentrated as hard as she could on getting the boys onto Chelsea's back while said dragoness tried her best to not let the winds knock her around. After the boys were successfully on her back, she carried them over to the open hatch of the X-Jet so they could at least dry off. After that, the blonde changed back to normal and got inside of the aircraft herself.

With that, they flew back to the Institute… Though Chelsea wasn't looking forward to the cold, if she had to be honest.

A couple hours later, the Twins and the others went to go see Scott in the infirmary, and Kurt got his watch back from the professor after he fixed it.

"Open wide." Jean told Scott like she was talking to a child.

"Jean, I'm not a little kid." The teen told her as he ate what she was giving her.

"You feeling alright?" Kurt asked as he activated his watch, causing everyone to chuckle at what the image inducer made him look like.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking… Ma'am." Scott replied with a grin.

"Ma'am? Vhat are talking about-?" He asked before he looked in the room's mirror. "AAAAAAGHHH!" He yelled as he saw that his hologram made him look like a girl version of himself, which really looked a lot like a younger Mystique. "Professor!" He yelled at the man as everyone burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry, Kurt. I-I couldn't resist." Charles confessed with a smile.

Kurt just decided to laugh along as everyone was finally able to enjoy the rest of the day.

(Elsewhere)

Mystique was in an apartment she'd been staying in for the last few months on the couch in the living room, her blue skinned stomach being very swollen as she was currently five months pregnant. She smiled happily as she stroked her belly.

"Ah, I've been wanting to re-experience this feeling for a very long time." She cooed as she felt her child grow inside her.

Though her musings were cut short when her lights flickered and a magnetic wave swept over the room. She looked around warily as she held her stomach protectively.

Then the door opened, showing none other than Magneto, who was currently dressed in a black suit and a trench coat, a fedora on his head.

"Mystique. You certainly have changed." The man said as he stepped inside, which caused Mystique to cover her swollen belly protectively, a glare shivering across her features.

"What do you want, Magneto?" She growled.

The man stepped forward as he knelt down and stroked her stomach. "I've almost forgotten about how wonderful the miracle of life is." He sighed, before looking at her seriously. "What are you getting at, using one of Xavier's students to sire your spawn? Do you realize what could happen if they retaliate?" He hissed.

"They won't." The shapeshifter replied firmly.

"For now, obviously. But they could retaliate with extreme prejudice after the child is born! Did that occur to you?!" He hissed once more.

"Of course. But they still won't, because I will give my child's dear father a choice: do me one favor and have his child given to him unharmed or else." She stated. Magneto then sighed.

"This will make you one of their most hated enemies, even among your own children. You know this, correct?" He asked tiredly.

"Oh it will only be a ruse, I assure you." Mystique corrected while smiling down at the unborn child in her body. "I will never harm this child. With my superior genes and young Gavin's Omega Level X-gene, our child will be unstoppable. Besides." She then glared at the man angrily. "I've already seen a child of mine hurt, and I hated it." She said, referring to what Magneto did to Kurt.

"At least progress was made." The magnetic man defended.

"I'd hardly call what you did progress!" The woman nearly shouted at him.

"And how is what you did so different?" Magnus questioned.

"I saw how that boy looks at Rogue, and knowing her this will most likely drive the two closer together, which will work to my advantage greatly. And if I can contribute a powerful new mutant to our race and further my own plans at the same time? Well, then that's even better." Mystique stated.

"I do hope this goes the way you hope it will. If it doesn't, there will be hell to pay in the eyes of Xavier's students and faculty alike." Magneto said.

"I'm not worried." The woman said nonchalantly. Without another word, Magneto left. Mystique smiled down at her unborn child in her womb. "Sleep well, my darling little one. Your mother anxiously awaits your arrival." She cooed with a smile. Inside her belly, the baby moved around in response, nuzzling against its mother's hand outside of its resting place.

And the odd thing was, Risty had actually still been going to school for the past few months, so that begged the question: if Mystique was Risty, how is she hiding her secret?

**Dragon Emperor0: And so guys, looks like I was finally able to implement several different things in the story that I had been meaning to for awhile. (Ie: Chelsea's hibernation in cold temperatures, Gavin's garlic allergy, the Twin's jinx, and of course how Amanda interacts with her sons)**

**ThermalsniperN7: Let's not forget about her reaction to what Mystique did to Gavin. A bit late, sure, but it's there.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Plus, Logan and Chelsea are finally an item, took over 13 chapters but it happened. Now where will things go from here I wonder…? Hmmm. **

**ThermalsniperN7/Dragon Emperor0: Anyway, see you guys next chapter.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30: Every Time a Bell Rings an Angel Gets His Wings.**

It was the day before Christmas Eve at the Institute and everyone was getting ready for the early Christmas party later that night. Right now Gavin, Chelsea and Bast were sitting in the kitchen while Logan was doing a beer run, the boy had just gotten finished making them a homemade mocha (hot chocolate mix mixed with coffee) and was now sitting with them and talking.

"So, you and Devin gonna go see your mom for Christmas?" Bast asked.

Gavin shook his head. "No, our plane got snowed in, so our mom's gonna come here instead." He explained.

"Well at least you'll get to see her." Chelsea shrugged.

"What about you guys though? Are you gonna go see your families?" He asked, taking a sip of his drink. "I mean, come on, you guys were missing for a really long time, so you're bound to have-"

"No." They both interrupted.

"Why?" Gavin questioned in confusion. "That's kinda cruel guys, I mean for all you know they could have been grief stricken for years."

"If they even noticed I was gone, I would be surprised." Chelsea deadpanned. "For all they knew I was off frolicking in the party lifestyle of my older brother. They didn't even notice when he left for Mexico for a week until they saw the bill he racked up on one of dear old dad's credit cards."

Gavin rolled his eyes. "You're joking, there's no way they wouldn't notice."

She gave him possibly the flattest look possible."Does it seem like I'm joking?"

"You're a queen of sarcasm, I don't put it past you." He chided, thinking her account to be overdramatic. "What about you Bast?"

"Well let's see, to put it lightly, my family thought I was a monster." She said in a mockingly happy tone. "My father threw me out of the house when my mutation developed. Literally, busted in my bedroom door, picked me up by the neck and tossed me into the street."

"What?!" The Japanese American boy snarled.

"So, to say I'm not on good terms with my family is an understatement." She replied nonchalantly, sipping her mocha. "There's a reason we chose our family, Gavin."

"Did your father actually do that?" He could hardly believe his ears.

"No, she's just telling you to see what your reaction is." Chelsea remarked jokingly, earning a glare from Bast.

"Geez, talk about a room of daddy issues." The boy muttered under his breath, trying to calm his anger.

"Hey." The Middle Easterner said warningly.

"Still though." He said. "Not to seem like a jerk, but you guys do realize that people can change right? Especially parents. I mean, there's this girl I know, Ronni Ann, and her parents always argued with each other and her for years so much so that they practically forgot about her. That all changed though when she got kidnapped by a drug cartel a couple years ago. After that her parents were so worried sick about her that her parents stopped fighting and started paying more attention to her, it was as if the fear of losing their child snapped them out of their stupidity."

"Okay, I get that, no offense to your friend but, I don't see how that applies to us." Chelsea stated before letting out a cavernous yawn.

"You said your parents never paid attention to you right? It's the same sort of situation." Gavin shrugged. "Ronni Ann's parents honestly couldn't even function right at work; they were so worried about her. Something tells me that since your parents were also workaholics, they probably went through something similar." He explained.

"Oh." Chelsea nodded, noticing what he meant.

The boy then turned to Bast. "Though your parents on the other hand... Wasn't there one that wanted you to stay?"

"Yeah, my mom. But she was so scared of my dad that she could never get the courage to stand up to him." The woman told him.

"Then there you go. For all you know your mom could have left your dad and now she's living alone. I don't know about you, but if my mom went through that and I had disappeared for god knows how long, I'd wanna check on her too." The pseudo vampire sighed, tapping her mug with her clawed hand. "I'm sure it would be nice to check on her Gavin, but it isn't as simple as calling her up and asking her how she is."

"But it literally is that simple!" He said in exasperation.

"No kid, it's not." Chelsea butted in bluntly. "Have you ever watched Law and Order SVU? The cases where this happens, when a kid is taken and comes back years later doesn't always end in smiles and rainbows. It's traumatic for family members. They've meticulously created a "new normal", adjusting to life without their child. It isn't easy for that new way of life to be shattered by having a ghost from the past show up."

"Geez Marks, if I didn't know any better I'd say you're trying to avoid them. "Gavin muttered.

She gave him a half nod. "To an extent, I am. They really don't feel like family anymore. It would just create an awkward and rough situation."

"Come on guys, are you really going to just sit there and tell me you aren't the least bit curious about what's gone on with your families since you disappeared?" He asked. "I mean come on, me and my brother were basically separated at birth and it wasn't until we were five that we met each other. That whole ordeal shattered me and my mom's new 'normal' too. So much so that we couldn't stand each other. And now look at us. We reconciled and now we're getting along just fine."

Chelsea and Bast looked at each other before they looked at their drinks in thought. Was Gavin right? Could they actually do this without ruining everything for their families in the process? The thought of actually ruining their families actually scared them a little.

"Okay, I get what you're saying Gav, but there's still one problem: I don't know where they are. I don't even know if my brothers are still around now." Chelsea said.

"Same. I don't even know what my family's phone number is anymore." Bast nodded in agreement. Their responses made their little brother figure sigh.

"Yeah, I can see how that's a problem." He muttered. The boy thought for a few minutes before he snapped his fingers as an idea popped into his head. "Say, did your brothers have cell phones?" He asked Chelsea.

"Um… Yeah. Why?" She asked in confusion.

"Call their old numbers. If you can get in touch with one of them, you can at least check on him and figure out things from there." The horror aficionados told her.

"That…. Might work, actually." The dragon queen said thoughtfully. But then she growled. "Still not looking forward to talking to my parents."

"Same. But, I guess I could try my mom's old phone number, too." Bast mused in agreement.

"Well, just let me know what happens." The boy said as he got up. "I got some last minute Christmas shopping to do." He said as he left.

(Later)

Chelsea was in her room and sitting on her bed, her cell in her hand as her fingers shook nervously. "Okay… Okay, what was Jason's number again?" She said as she thought, a couple seconds later she was able to dial it. Though she hesitated once it was time to press the call button, her nerves caused her to press it by mistake. "Shit!" She yelped as she quickly held it to her ear.

The phone rang for a few moments before a voice she hadn't heard in years answered. "_Hello? Who is this?"_ A male voice asked.

Chelsea gasped as she took a nervous breath and croaked out. "J-Jason?" She croaked, her throat suddenly becoming dry. She was met by silence until her brother spoke again.

"_C-C-Chelsea? Is that you?" _He asked hopefully.

"Yeah-yeah It's me." She stuttered.

"_Holy shit, it's actually you! Do you have any idea of how scared we were when you vanished like that?!" _He asked with relief in his voice.

"You or our parents? I'm still not convinced that they even cared about me to begin with." The woman snarked.

"_I'm talking about me and the rest of your brothers. We couldn't stop worrying about you ever since you vanished." _Jason replied. "_What happened to you?_"

"It's a long story. But have you ever heard of an organization called HYDRA?" The dragoness asked. There was silence once more, this time induced by alarm.

"_... I have. PLEASE tell me you aren't saying what I think you're saying."_ Her brother pleaded.

"Unfortunately. I've been subjected to every torture imaginable, and get this: they tried to turn me into their personal breeding stock." She explained.

"_THEY __**WHAT?!**_" He yelled angrily, causing the woman to wince and hold the phone away from her ear for a moment to get the ringing out.

"Yeah. But I'm okay now, I actually made some friends there and now we're here in New York at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. I got a job as an instructor." Chelsea told him.

"_Seriously? Awesome!"_ Jason replied in an impressed tone. "_Wait, gifted youngsters, what does that mean?"_ He asked.

"Remember when I turned into a dragon in front of you when we were kids?" She asked.

"_Kinda hard to… Wait, is that what you mean?" _He started before the realization hit him.

"Yeah. It's a place for kids that are like me: ones who have super powers. Mutants basically." She simplified with a nod. "And, well, I've also recently started dating my coworkers, a guy named Logan Howlett."

"_Oh really, now? Heh, me and the rest of the guys might have to come over there and meet him sometime, then." _He said with an audible smirk.

"If you're gonna try to scare him, be ready for him to turn things around." Chelsea snorted in amusement. "Speaking of: how have you guys been doing?"

"_Well Sam's married and is currently the father of three beautiful girls. Maverick has been doing pretty well for himself, he's got our dad's workaholic tendencies, but he still makes time for his boy and three girls. And as for me, I'm currently engaged with my high school sweetheart. You remember Elizabeth, right?"_ Jason listed before saying the last part proudly.

"No way, Lizzy? You actually grew a pair and popped the question?!" His sister said happily.

"_You bet I did. I can't even begin to tell you how elated she was when I asked her." _Jason replied with a chuckle. "_I'm also a youth officer, I help troubled kids like how I was in finding a better path in life._"

"That's awesome, I bet you do a pretty good job." The woman smiled. "And what about mom and dad?"

"_They're retired. After you disappeared, their attitudes changed drastically, and they started paying us more attention. And now that they have grandchildren, they rarely leave us alone now… it's honestly kind of annoying." _He told her.

Chelsea blinked as she processed that statement. One point in time, they left them alone too often. Now they rarely get left alone? If that's not a big change, she didn't know what was.

"Seriously? Huh, whaddya know." She nodded in surprise.

"_So, are you gonna try and come home for Christmas?"_ He asked her, Hope evident in his voice.

"That kinda depends on where you guys are. You had to have changed location over the years, right?" She asked.

"_Well, me and the guys did, but our parents are still in our old home in Nevada, so we always go there for Christmas._" The man explained.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you guys there." The dragoness replied with a smile.

"_And bring that boyfriend with you too. I'm sure the family would love to meet him. Besides, mom always did say she wanted you to marry a teacher." _Her brother chuckled.

"Heh, and I'm actually granting that wish." She chuckled in amusement.

"_Sounds like it. So when do you think you'll be here?" _He asked.

"Probably by tomorrow, I can easily get a couple tickets and be there by then." The woman said with a shrug.

"_Awesome." _Jason replied with a grin. "_See you then." _He added before he hung up.

Chelsea sighed as she hung up. Gavin turned out to be right again. "Wow, that kid is good." She chuckled as she went to go find Logan.

(Meanwhile)

Bast had also just dialed her mom's number, and was now waiting for someone to pick up. Five seconds and three rings later, someone finally picked up.

"_Hello?"_ A woman on the other line asked in a thick Arabic accent.

"M-mom?" The nurse asked hesitantly, eliciting a gasp from the other end.

"..._Fatima_?" Was the woman's only words. "_Darling, is that truly you?" _

"Yes, mom. It's me." She confirmed.

"_What has happened to you? All I can recall is your father throwing you out after you… Changed, and then you disappeared." _The woman asked, still unable to believe that it was her daughter talking to her.

"A lot has happened. Right now, though, I've become a nurse at the Institute I'm living at." The feline nurse replied.

"_An Institute?" _Her mother asked.

"For people like me, people with powers. We're called mutants." Bast explained.

"_Well that explains your change." _Her mother mused out loud.

"Yeah. I've actually made a few friends here too. And I'm also in college to get my Medical degree." The cat woman nodded. "What about you? Where's Dad, Ezra and Ali?"

"_Your father… Is dead, Fatima." _The woman said solemnly. Bast's eyes went wide in shock.

"What?! What happened?!" She asked.

"_During our yearly pilgrimage to the holy land, a Jihadist zealot committed a suicide bombing in the mosque we were in. Your father was killed, Ezra lost his sight, and Ali now has to wear hearing aids." _Her mother explained. "Ezra now is in college to become a Psychologist, and Ali now goes to a catholic high school. After the attack he was… Changed. After seeing those of his faith kill their own, it caused him to renounce his faith and convert to Catholicism." She continued.

"I can't say I blame him. It's like seeing soldiers of a nation kill their own comrades." Bast nodded, holding nothing against Ali's change of faith.

"_I tried to convince him otherwise, but he had said he'd been thinking of it for a long time. Your father's death was essentially the last straw." _She sighed.

"Did he say how long he was thinking about it?" Bast inquired.

"_Ever since he saw your father beat you and throw you out. He said his Christian friend's families were nothing like that. Only ours, so it helped move him in that direction." _The mother stated.

Bast sighed sadly. She hadn't expected her father to have this bad of an impact on her little brother. It made her feel all torn up inside. Still, she wouldn't hold it against him.

"Well, if that's how he wishes to live, then I won't sway him." She shrugged. "So, it's going to be Christmas break soon here, would it be okay if I came down? Where are you guys living right now?"

"_Of course it would, qath saghira. I want to see how you've grown, and what has happened to you after all these years." _The mother told her, using a childhood nickname she had given Bast, one that meant 'Kitten'. "_After your father was transferred to a new job, we moved to a place called Beverly Hills, do you know it?_"

"Yeah, I know it. I'll try and get a flight there as soon as I can." She told her mother. "I guess i'll see you then?"

"_Yes. I look forward to it." _The woman smiled.

"Me too." Bast smiled back before she hung up. Looking around she then started getting her bags, she had some packing to do.

(Later that night, during the Institute Christmas party)

It was the night of the Christmas party and everyone was starting to exchange gifts. Currently, Gavin was giving Bast her gift.

"Here Bast, it's a few medical books. I figured you'd like them, I got some in English and Arabic." He told her as he handed her the books, which came with a card.

"Aw, thanks Gavin." She smiled. Reaching behind her she handed him a book as well. It was a copy of the Art of War, which she had wrapped a bow around. Gavin looked at the book and whistled in amazement.

"Wow. Didn't see this coming. Thanks." He told her with a smile before giving her a hug.

"You're welcome." She smiled as she hugged him back.

Next was Kai, and both he and the girls two old friends had pitched in and gotten her a pretty touching gift: a silver locket that had a Hawaiian flower etched on it and inside it had two photos, a picture of Kai and her family, and a picture of her and all her friends after they escaped and before Pele had died.

The water controlling girl gasped as she put the locket on, tears flowing down her face the whole time. "I love it." She said before grabbing all three of them in a group hug.

Next was Chelsea, and both Logan and Gavin had actually got her something this time around. When the Dragoness opened the two jewelry boxes they gave her, she saw that they got her a pair of silver dragon earrings and a matching silver dragon necklace that had diamonds lining its wings and an emerald in the center of said closed wings.

"Thanks, boys." She said with a smile as she hugged them both. The woman then put the jewelry on and looked at herself in the room's mirror. "Ya know, you guys were right, it really does complement the silver studs on my jacket." She said while looking her well worn leather jacket over.

"And the emerald matches your eyes." Gavin added. He then handed Logan a box. "Here's your present Logan, and just so you know: it wasn't at all cheap."

"Let's see it, then." The scraggly mutant said with a smirk as he took the box. As he opened it, he slowly pulled out a brown Harley Davidson leather jacket, and it was an older one too, not to mention its leather work was really well done, as was the quality of the leather. Logan looked it over and whistled in approval.

"Nice one, fangs. You really knew just what to pick." He said in an impressed tone.

"Eh, I saw that your motorcycle was a Harley, so I thought I'd get you a jacket to match it." The boy shrugged before grabbing a small box and a couple of books he had with him in one hand, and his glass of eggnog in the other. "Now if you excuse me, I have one more present… To… Give…" his words trailed off when he saw what was going on in front of the fireplace, and the sight made his blood boil.

What he saw was Rogue giving a gift to Scott, a sweater that he had actually helped her pick out a few days prior. She had said that she was going to give it to a close friend, what he _hadn't _realized was that the friend she was referring to wasn't him at all, but Scott. The pseudo vampire's grip on his eggnog tightened progressively as a huge wave of jealousy and anger swept over him like a tidal wave.

He then crushed the glass in his rage fueled grip, causing Logan to look at him with a raised eyebrow at his behavior.

"What's up with him?" Chelsea asked.

With a shaky sigh Gavin wiped his hands clean and then walked over to Rogue as soon as Scott left to talk to Jean. "Hey Rogue, I got your presents here if you wanna open them." He told her while holding out the box and the books.

"Oh! Thanks, Gavin." She replied with a smile as she took the gifts. Looking at the books first, she saw that the books he got her were two romance novels: Fifty Shades of Grey and Halfway to the Grave. These two choices caused her to blush, but she just put them away for later.

What really caught her off guard was what was in the small elongated jewelry box. Feeling curious, she opened it and her eyes widened as her free hand went to her mouth in amazement at the contents.

It was a black lace choker necklace, but it was inlaid with several beautiful gems, Red/Orange Sapphires to be exact, that had small chains looped and dangling below them connected to a larger gem of the same type that dangled from the center of the necklace. Each of the gems' inlays also had small black diamonds inserted in the golden chambers they were held in. It was clearly an expensive gift to be sure.

"Gavin… You…" She breathed in awe as she looked at her gift.

"I'd been saving up my allowance since August to be able to get it. I hope you like it." He told her, still hurt and jealous about what he saw between her and Scott, but tried his best to hide it.

Rogue was speechless. She looked between the choker and Gavin before setting the box down gently before giving her vampire themed friend a hug.

Gavin was surprised at first as he stumbled backwards, but soon he regained his footing and returned the hug. Then he noticed something hanging above them. It would seem that her action had seemingly placed them smack under the mistletoe Kurt had put on the ceiling that morning.

"Uh, Rogue, I don't want to alarm you but, um…" The horror lover said as he pointed at the small hanging plant while the girl's arms were still wrapped around his neck. The girl looked up and saw the plant before she deadpanned at the placement.

"... Oh." Was all she said before looking back at him. "Should we…?" She asked before trailing off with a twinge of nervousness.

"Well, you don't have to if you don't want to. I'm not gonna hold you to it." The boy told her.

Rogue hesitated as she thought about it. She didn't want to put either of them through something rather sensitive, but Gavin seemed to at least be willing. She just couldn't figure it out. This was pretty sensitive.

As the two separated, Rogue blushed before she decided to just give him a small kiss on the cheek. It was a harmless gesture, she told herself. Just an old tradition, that's all, was what Gavin told himself as his face turned a shade of dark pink, which contrasted the purple lipstick that was left on his cheek.

The party went on without much else happening. Gavin got a bat hood ornament for his car from Logan, a red steampunk gothic leather trench coat (for everyday use) from Chelsea, a copy of several books on Japanese Yokai from Devin, and lastly he got a red gothic cross necklace from Rogue. After the party everyone ended up going to bed.

(The next day)

The next morning, everyone who was leaving all went to the airport. Logan was going with Chelsea to Nevada to meet her family and Bast was going to California to visit hers, while Kai was going to Hawaii to be with her foster parents since they finally moved back to her old home.

Amanda Shirakumo had also arrived at the Institute as well, but unfortunately Devin didn't stay very long because he said he was going to visit Roxy to drop off a few application forms for her.

Right now Rogue, Scott, Gavin, Beast, Xavier and Amanda were all sitting in the main parlor and either enjoying a game of chess, reading the paper, or just lounging around. This atmosphere of general levity was interrupted, however, when Gavin brought up the many Angel sightings that had occurred that week.

"Does anyone else think that these might have some form of merit to them?" He asked as he looked over the articles.

"Unfortunately yes, but I fear this angel may not be of the heavenly variety." Xavier said in response.

"What, you think it's a demon?" Scott asked as he looked up from his chess game with Beast.

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Beast quoted as he took out one of Scott's pawns.

"Shakespeare?" Xavier asked.

"No, the Bible." Beast corrected.

"Hebrews 13:2, to be exact." Gavin added as he read the Bible while lounging in a chair near the fire, upside down.

"At any rate, I believe this 'angel' may compromise our existence as mutants to the public. We must track him down and at least speak with him." The professor said.

"Pft, figures." The pseudo vampire scoffed as he turned the page of his book. "Here we are trying to learn how to do some good with our powers and when someone's doing just that without even going here, we decide to just snuff it out. Anyone else smell hypocrisy?"

"Gavin…" Amanda warned. She never liked how her son had inherited her late husband's compulsion to argue on every single topic.

"Yeah, I gotta give him that one. Kinda hypocritical of us when you think about it." Scott said in agreement.

"I understand what you mean, but think about this: What will happen when everyone suddenly turns on him? He won't have anywhere to go. If we find him, we can at least give him an avenue to continue his life." Xavier explained his case, which actually made Gavin calm down.

"I guess that's something I can get behind." The boy shrugged.

"This reminds me of another quote: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than what are dreamt up in your philosophy." Beast recited, which caused Gavin to groan.

"Let me guess: Shakespeare?" He asked, getting a nod in return.

"Hey, why don't Gavin and Ah go? Ah mean we can try and see if we can find this angel guy around town." Rogue suggested, causing the boy to raise an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't it be smarter to bring Scott? I mean he is more level headed than I am." He stated, his eyes never leaving the passage he was reading, getting a confused look from the southern belle.

"Well, you seemed like you needed an excuse to get out of the place, so why not?" She asked in return.

"Oh… Okay." Gavin said in surprise as he got up. "I'll uh, just get my coat on." He said as he went upstairs to get dressed.

(Elsewhere)

Devin was now in Roxy's town district, which was located just a stone throw from a roller derby rink and the Bronx. He was currently standing in front of her front door, and as soon as he knocked on the door, instead of her answering, it was someone who he assumed was one of her brothers.

The guy in front of him was a fair skinned guy who looked around 20 or 21, he was around 5'11" with brown/black hair that was slicked with what he assumed was hair gel, and was styled in the 'greaser' fashion. He had brown eyes, nearly perfect teeth besides one canine that was pushed inward, and had a rather decent build. He was wearing a gray shirt and some jeans as well as a pair of biker boots.

"Who're you?" The young man asked the young mutant.

"Devin Shirakumo, and you are?" Devin asked.

"Darrel, but my friends call me Darry." The man introduced himself. "You need something kid?" He asked.

"I'm here to drop off some application forms for your sister." He replied as he held out said forms.

"Application forms? For what?" Darry questioned, his hand slowly creeping into his pocket.

"For the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Professor Xavier would like to allow her to go there in order to properly use her 'gifts'." Devin explained, noticing what the man was doing. "And judging by the fact you're trying to sneak a switchblade on me, I take it you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"How do I know you're not a hater?" He asked quietly.

Devin's response was to turn his hand into a sword and point it at him. "Kind of hard to hate someone who's like me." He stated.

Darry seemed to take this as a good sign and slacked off. "Now I remember you, you're the Japanese kid Roxy was telling us about. The one who's always nervous." This statement made a vein in Devin's head visibly bulge.

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" He growled indignantly. Of all the things to tell her brothers, she tells them _that?!_

"Whoa, what's got you all mad?" The older boy asked.

"Just tell your sister that _I _don't get nervous, I'm simply naturally wary of new people." Was all Devin said before he turned and left before he blushed slightly. "And tell that I-_we_… Look forward to having her stay at the Institute with us." He told the man before he left.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin and Rogue had been spending all day trying to track down the mysterious angel, but they were pretty much getting nowhere. So once night fell, they made a stop at an old diner that might as well have been the set of a 50s movie like Grease.

The two ordered some food and hot drinks when Gavin noticed that instead of her usual choker, he could make out some of the one he gave her under the turtle neck she was wearing.

"You know, Ah kinda needed this." She commented.

"What? Hot drinks after walking around in the cold all day?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, that and getting out of the Institute. Ah was going stir crazy in there." She replied. "Plus, it never hurts to spend time with friends." She added thoughtfully.

"Yeah. I gotta admit, it feels nice to be out." The boy nodded as he stretched in his seat. Then he looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Hey, Rogue? Do you think this angel guy could actually be the real deal?"

"Ah'm not sure, though Ah wouldn't hold my breath." She shrugged.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just asking because, well, back when me and Devin were just kids, we used to go onto this lake every winter to go ice skating or, in our case, play hockey. And one day, the ice gave way and Devin fell in. I tried and tried to pull him up but I just wasn't strong enough. I called and cried for help, but no one came, then as a last ditch effort I pulled with all my might, but just as I was about to give out, someone or _something _grabbed onto me and pulled with me, and helped me get him out." The boy explained. "But when I looked around, no one was there. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I always thought that whatever saved us that day, was an angel."

Rogue frowned as she listened to the story. She could see why the topic interested him, and could understand his concern for his brother. Though from what she heard, it sounded like a mutant was in the area and lended a hand. She kept that to herself, though.

"Hey, Ah'm sure we'll find out eventually." She told him while taking his hand. After they ate, the two then started their search again, and the trail then soon led them to a church where a family of a girl that the angel tried to save was trying to pray for their daughter's recovery from her current condition.

When they got there, Gavin immediately stiffened when he heard a very familiar voice talking with a younger, unfamiliar one.

"Magneto…" The boy growled. Rogue looked at him in alarm.

"He's here? Where is he?!" She whispered as she looked around.

The pseudo vampire put a finger to his lips as he pointed at the church's top banister, then he transformed into smoke and floated up towards it before appearing behind the self proclaimed 'Master of Magnetism'. Drawing his sword (which he had brought with him just in case), the boy put the tip just barely against the back of the old man's neck.

"Hello, Magneto. Say, don't Jews usually celebrate Chanaka this time of year instead of Christmas?" Gavin asked in a snarky tone as the man stiffened.

"Ah, Gavin. Still as witty as ever I see." He noted casually.

"And I can still hear you spouting off your pessimistic bullshit." The boy hissed back before looking at Angel. "Don't mind us." He told the man before turning back to magneto. "You do realize that it's bad seeds like you who make it difficult for mutants to convince mankind that we aren't enemies, right? Or do you just not care?"

"What I do is in defense of mutants all over the world. Xavier is just holding us back!" The elder man growled.

"I think you've got that _backwards, _Magnus." The horror fanatic said. "Now quick question, completely off topic but-" He then made Magneto turn around to face him so Rogue could enter behind him. "Do you...know...where Mystique is?" He asked slowly, becoming angrier with every word.

The magnetic mutant frowned in slight sadness. When he learned about what had happened to Gavin, he felt genuinely sad for the boy. No one should have to go through that. He cleared his mind and focused on the younger mutant's question.

"She is here in New York in an apartment. I cannot give you the exact location because she made a very good move to hide it from me when I found her. However, I will tell you this: She is currently nearing six months of her pregnancy." The man told him.

Gavin digested the information before relaxing slightly and nodding. "Thank you for telling me this." He replied in slight gratitude. "Now to show you how grateful I am, I'm going to give you this chance to leave peacefully. Consider it an early Chanaka present. Whether you take it or not is entirely up to you."

Rogue, meanwhile, stood next to Angel with her hands ungloved, and ready to pounce. Magneto gave the boy's proposal some thought, and then took slight notice of his situation. Had he attempted to get the boy's sword beforehand, Gavin would have moved too quickly for him to react and would have skewered him. Whether he made the right decision in not attacking was unclear at the moment. But right now was not the right time for an all out brawl, especially with a human family present that could see them.

"Very well. I'll leave quietly. This isn't the time or place for a fight, and I wish to be respectful here." He responded before he turned to leave. "But know this, Vampyr, next time I may not be so gracious."

"I'm counting on it." Gavin nodded as the man left.

(Later)

Gavin, Rogue and the angel mutant (now formally introduced as Warren) were sitting in the hospital where the little girl was. The two teens had just gotten finished with explaining what the Xavier Institute was to him.

"I may have to lay low for now. If things go bad, I'll come to you guys." He decided.

"Hey, you do what you gotta do, Warren." Gavin told him.

"Yeah, we'll be here if you need someone to come to." Rogue added. Right at that moment, the doctor came in and informed the family that their daughter had woken up, this caused all three mutants to smile happily at the result.

As night fell on Christmas Eve, everyone was celebrating. Kurt was with his family in Germany, Kitty was celebrating Chanaka with her parents, Evan and Ororo were playing in the snow with Evan's dad before storm used her powers to bury the two in snow, Jean and her family had just finished decorating a tree, Chelsea and Logan had arrived at her old house and had met her family, much to the surprise and shock of her parents and the mild amusement of her brothers as the two joined the Marks family for the festivities. Bast had just arrived at her mom's new place and the two shared a tearful embrace before she hugged her two brothers and the four went inside.

Lastly was Scott, Rogue, Beast, Xavier, Amanda and the Twins. All of them were currently in the main living room watching It's A Wonderful Life, and the famous lines: "Every Time a Bell Rings an Angel Gets His Wings." Were spoken as the clock struck nine, and in the distance through a window, a much more cheerful Warren was seen flying past the moon near the mansion.

It was Christmas, after all. There was no room for bad feelings, that could wait until the new year…

**Dragon Emperor0: Just to clarify, only Ali converted to Christianity. And the only reason why I even included that at all (because I hadn't intended to originally) was to stick to the source story I once read on a Christian reddit thread about a kid who converted to Christianity after something similar happened to his sister and dad. I won't name names for obvious reasons.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Anyway, see you guys next chapter.**


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31: New Year, Same Chaos**

_-Nevada, Christmas Eve day-_

Chelsea and Logan were currently standing on the front porch of her parents house and they were about to knock on the door to notify the occupants of their arrival, but Chelsea hesitated when she reached her hand out to knock.

"Don't worry. I'm right here if you need me." Logan assured her.

"Thanks." The blonde nodded as she took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A few seconds passed before someone answered. The person to answer was a woman with mousy brown hair which seemed to be immaculately kept, was around her height and looked to be in her fifties, had green eyes like Chelsea and had (as Chelsea would put it) "a face always bearing a try-hard smile". This was Clarice Marks, Chelsea's mother.

"Uh...H-Hey mom." The Dragoness said nervously. "I'm back…?"

"...Chelsea, is that really you?" The woman gasped in shock after a moment.

"Yeah." The instructor nodded. "Can we come in? Because I'd really like to try and explain why I've been gone for so long."

"Yes, please." She replied as she ushered them in. Once inside, they saw that the house was just as well furnished as the Xavier mansion but at half the size. Clarice led them into the living room where four men were sitting with four women, four girls and one boy.

The oldest of the men was a man with graying blond hair, silver eyes and tan skin. He was wearing a green button down shirt and khakis and had on brown lothers. He looked to be around in his sixties. This was Sampson Marks, Chelsea's father, a very successful retired surgeon.

Next was a man who looked like a younger version of Sampson, but had Clarice's green eyes. He looked to be in his early forties. This guy was Sam, Chelsea's older brother.

Second to him was Jason, who had the same kind of blonde hair as Chelsea and his father's silver eyes, he was a year older than his sister at twenty seven.

Lastly was the youngest of the men was of course Chelsea's younger brother, Maverick Marks. Who was Twenty years old.

They were all with their wives and kids, or fiancé in Jason's case, and were sitting there waiting for her.

"So, Jason wasn't kidding when he said you were back." Sam said with a smile. "It's great to see you again, sis. What happened to you?"

"Yeah, and who's your friend?" Maverick asked.

"I take it this is the boyfriend you mentioned?" Jason smirked with a raised eyebrow. This info caused everyone to whisper in surprise, especially Elizabeth, who had been Chelsea's best friend since grade school.

"One at a time everyone, let's a least let them get settled." Sampson told them all sternly.

"Go ahead and take a seat, you two." Clarice told the two, which they did, sitting on a loveseat across from everyone. After a minute of silence to collect her thoughts, Chelsea let out a deep sigh before speaking.

"First off, guys, this is Logan Howlett. He's my co worker at my new job as an instructor at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. And as Jason just told you: We're currently dating." Chelsea explained to them while introducing the scraggly mutant next to her.

"Kinda figured that something like this would happen to you eventually." Maverick inputted.

"You always kinda had a type, sis." Sam nodded.

Clarice, on the other hand, seemed a tad displeased. "Does this mean he's also an instructor? What does he teach?" She asked.

"Physical Education." The scraggly man replied with a shrug. It was partly true since the danger room sessions were partially educational. "And a bit of everything else. I'm what ya call a jack of all trades." He added with a shrug. "The kids can be a bit of a handful sometimes, but it's definitely rewarding at least."

"Ah, a man who takes pride in his work, I admire that in a man." Sampson said with an approving nod. "I've always said that if you don't take pride in or enjoy what you do, you're in the wrong profession."

"Yeah I guess that's something we can agree on, bub." Logan nodded.

"Then I guess that means that you and mom liked your jobs better than us, huh dad?" Chelsea grumbled.

Sampson looked at her as though her statement made him upset, but just sighed heavily. "Believe me, I've had to learn that the hard way." He sighed.

"All that aside though." Clarice said before turning to Chelsea. "Do you have any idea what you running away put this family through? How much trouble it caused us? You were always a troublemaker like Jason, but running away? What on earth were you thinking?""

"What was I thinking? … What was I _thinking?!"_ Chelsea hissed angrily. "Maybe I thought I was neglected. Maybe I thought you never cared about me to begin with. _Maybe _I thought you wished you never had me!" She all but yelled in anger. Glaring at her mother. "I mean come _on _mom, everyone in this family knows that if you were given the choice of being there for one of our events or another one of your stupid open houses, you'd always choose the open house."

Both Clarice and Sampson were taken aback by their daughter's harsh words, but of course, deep down, they knew she was right. They had neglected their children, they learned this a long time ago, in fact it was the very thing they spent the past several years trying to correct.

"Not to mention." The blonde continued. "I had just found out that I was what's known as a mutant, a human with super powers. I ran because I was _terrified _of how you would react if you found out. And on top of that, when I ran away, I was _kidnapped _by a terrorist organization called HYDRA, and was subjected to every kind of hellish torture imaginable. Forced to fight and kill my fellow mutants, experimented on daily, forced to live in a cage, being starved for days on end, being sexually harassed by a scientist who gave me 'favoritism'. And they even tried to turn me into their personal _breeding stock_!"

"THEY **WHAT?!" **Sampson yelled in rage as he stood up abruptly.

"Shut up, I'm not done!" Chelsea snapped. She then shot a draconic glare at her parents as her scales appeared. "Don't you _dare _compare what you've supposedly been through to what I have. I've been through a hell that you will never be able to _comprehend_." Logan then grasped her hand to calm her down, causing her to look at him. "If it wasn't for the friends I managed to make there, I probably would have been broken and brainwashed into what they wanted me to be."

She then sighed as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Those guys and everyone at the Institute gave me a home, gave me several shoulders to lean on, even showed me they actually _cared for _and loved me. And I can say this much: they've all been more of a family to me than the two of _you _combined!"

Clarice looked angry at her daughter's words while Sampson just sighed as he slumped in defeat and acknowledgement. He knew he screwed up and that his daughter had every right to be angry at them, so he decided to just take it. Her brothers, meanwhile, looked at their families and then at their sister and her boyfriend. They certainly were glad that she didn't have to deal with all that crap anymore.

Later on, the woman took the time to get to know her sister-in-laws, Jackie (Sam's wife), and Lori (Maverick's wife). Finding them to actually be quite similar to Kitty and Jean respectively. Then she met her nieces and nephew. Sam's kids: Kristen, Mandy and Eve, were three nice girls. Kristen was the mature second mother figure of the three, which reminded Chelsea of Ororo. Mandy was a ditsy valley girl fashionista type, and Eve was a tomboyish, football loving girl who intended to go to West Point for college. Maverick's kids were a complete 180 of this set up: there was Daniella, a Gothic girl who loved heavy metal and grunge so much that she made Rogue look cheery. Krystal was a cute little bundle of energy that seemed to have this air of making you want to hug her on the spot. And his only son Calvin was a dinosaur loving, wise cracking, walking encyclopedia that was pretty cool for a kid who wanted to enter a field as boring as paleontology.

After she got to know her family though, the woman was absolutely drained from pouring her frustrations out on her parents. So she stepped out on the porch where Logan sat on the stairs smoking a cigar. She plopped down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Can I take a drag?"

He raised an eyebrow at her as he handed her the cigar. "I thought you didn't smoke?"

"Well, I need it right now. I can't do any more liquor or else I'll get violent, and I need something to get me through this night." She growled, her tone obviously annoyed. After inhaling from the roll, she let out a sigh as the smoke wafted out of her mouth in a curling cloud. "Why did I agree to this? Why did you agree to this?"

"Because I knew it would make you happy." He remarks with a huff. "Although, that doesn't seem to be the case…"

"Logan... no, no thank you, I appreciate that you wanted to come out herea. I really do. You're probably the only person keeping me from going full dragon on them right now. But all of this... their reactions and attitude... it's just not what I was expecting…" She took another long drag. "...God, I don't know what I was expecting."

Logan kept his gaze on her for a moment before turning to look over the mountain range the yard's view provided. The dusty pink rays shown over the desert like a rose-tinted lens. "You wanted something to be different, so that's what you expected. So when it turned out to be different, but not in a positive way, you were hurt."

"Gee, thanks, Confucius. I really appreciate your philosophy." The dragoness muttered.

"Chels, I'm just saying. You're not one to typically be optimistic. But, when you are, and your optimism gets deflated, you get a lot more butthurt than you'd expect." This statement earned him a glare from his girlfriend, which probably would have made anyone else turn tail and run.

"You know me so well it makes me hate you."

He simply shook his head with a chuckle. "No, you don't. You're just not used to someone knowing you so well and loving you."

Her eyes got wide, and her wrist went limp, dropping the cigar. "What did you just say?"

Logan paused, holding his steady gaze with her, her shocked emerald green eyes. "Ya heard me right, Chels. I love you."

She stared at him for a moment, a million thoughts racing through her head. Why would he love her? No man ever loved her, she was a heart breaker she couldn't be loved. There was Marcus once long ago but that was complicated. Besides she was too violent to take anyone into a personal and intimate relationship, what if she hurt him? What if, gods forbid, he wanted to marry her one day? And- and- and…. Fuck it. The thoughts went silent. He was right. He did know her, probably better than anyone else ever had. And he cared. A lot. So yeah… fuck it.

She smiled at him, leaning in and kissing him gently. "I love you too."

(Later...)

The two were now back at their hotel room and Logan had just fixed them some bison burgers and a couple beers. Though as they started to eat, there was a knock on their door.

"Who in the world could that be?" The blonde wondered as she went to answer it. That's when she saw her father standing there. "What do you want?"

"Quite a way to greet your own father, but I'll admit I deserve it. May I come in? There's something I'd like to say to you and Mr. Logan." Sampson told her.

The dragoness eyed him warily before letting him enter their hotel room. As the man sat down with them at the table, he sighed heavily as he buried his face in his hands.

"I know this may be hard to believe but, when Jason told me you were alive, I felt like my heart had stopped. For thirteen years I had been living under the assumption you were either dead, or kidnapped and sold. Little did I know that it was the latter brought to the worst degree." He then looked up at Chelsea's unmoved face. "Your disappearance took a toll on all of us, especially your mother. Headstrong and traditional as she is, you were her only daughter, and she loved you deeply. She would spend most nights crying in her sleep. Additionally, it also taught us a valuable lesson: we were too careless with our children, and it cost us one of them."

He then let out a shaking sigh. "And it was on the day you didn't return, that I vowed I would _never _lose sight of any of you again."

"Jason told me about that, actually. He was glad you had learned, but found it a bit annoying." His daughter told him.

"It's a learning process." The man chuckled. "And then when you told us you were a mutant, and work at a school for them, it reminded me of my new occasional part time job: as a secret mutant physician." He revealed, much to Chelsea's and Logan's surprise.

"Wait, say what? You're a mutant physician?" Logan asked with wide eyes.

"Yes, mainly here and there. Odd jobs for people with the most extraordinary of abilities. It truly is a gratifying job, being able to help these people so they won't feel ridiculed." He nodded while signing wistfully. "But that's why I've come here, not only to reconcile with my only daughter, but to also ask for yours and Professor Xavier's guidance so I can better equip myself to help Mutantkind however I can."

The mutant couple in the room looked at each other before smirking and nodding in unison.

"Okay, we can help you with that. But only on one condition." Chelsea told him, secretly smirking like a loon.

"That being…?" He asked warily, red flags waving in his head.

"You'll have to come to the Institute and meet some mutant teenagers up close and personal." Logan chuckled, knowing full well that the man wasn't going to come out in one piece.

The man nodded nervously. "Alright. I think I can arrange that." He then got up as Chelsea followed him out, though before he turned to leave, he hugged Chelsea, surprising her. "For what it's worth, I truly am sorry for how I have neglected you all these years. I hope someday you can forgive me, and that I can make it up to you."

Chelsea looked at him in shock before she slowly hugged him back. "Yeah, me too…" She said as the two continued to hug. Now she wondered if she could have a similar moment with her mom.

(A few days later)

_-Xavier Institute, New Years Eve-_

Gavin, Devin, Rogue and Scott were currently out on the town with the Professor and stopping at various fireworks stands and other stores to get supplies for the New Years Eve party that night when everyone came home.

"Man, this is gonna be awesome! I love watching fireworks in action!" Gavin exclaimed in delight.

"I think you mean you like setting them off. I remember one year you bought a few cherry bombs and wouldn't wait until New Year's Eve and lit one, but when mom was about to catch you, you stuck it in a postal mailbox." Devin said, rolling his eyes.

"Did that go as expected?" Scott asked with a knowing smirk.

"It blew a hole in it and burned everything inside. Cost our mom two hundred bucks to get the post office a replacement." Gavin told him.

"Heh, the things we do as kids." Rogue couldn't help but comment with a grin.

"Tell me about it…" The pseudo vampire sighed.

Once all the fireworks were bought, they all went home to set up, just in time for Logan and Chelsea to roll up on the former's motorcycle.

"Hey guys. What's up?" The blonde greeted the group.

"Not much, how'd everything go with your family?" Gavin asked. This got an exasperated sigh from the blonde dragoness. "Yikes, was it really that bad?"

"When it comes to my mom? Yeah. My dad, though, was more open minded about me leaving. He even acknowledged what he did." Chelsea replied. "Though once I opened up the can of worms known as HYDRA, they all changed their tune pretty quickly."

"How angry are they at HYDRA?" Devin couldn't help but ask as he walked up to them.

"Oh my dad and brothers were _livid_ when they found out. And my mom was horrified, beyond horrified actually once I got into what little detail I can still remember." Chelsea nodded.

"At least they listened." Gavin sighed.

"That aside though, my new sister in laws and my nieces and nephew are pretty awesome, too. Some of them even reminded me of you guys, actually." She smiled, remembering the fun she had there amidst the family drama.

"That's great!" Everyone smiled. "So are you guys ready for the New Years party tonight?" Rogue asked.

"Oh heck yeah! When do I _not _look forward to a New Year's party!" Gavin replied.

"I was asking, Chelsea." Rogue deadpanned, causing said blonde to chuckle.

"He's not exactly wrong, though. I'm actually looking forward to it." She smiled.

"You guys know your New Year's resolutions?" Scott asked as they all walked inside with the fireworks and other supplies.

"I'm resolving to start being more sociable. Hopefully with how things are going, I can keep it easier." Rogue said as she started unpacking everything.

"I'm resolving to try and not be as stuck up as I used to be." Devin stated.

"And I'm going to try and tell someone I care about just how much I care about them." Scott said firmly.

"Same." Gavin nodded. "I'm also going to make it a point to settle old vendettas this year as well." He added with a voice full of conviction. "What about you Logan, Chelsea?" He asked the two.

"I don't really make resolutions." Logan shrugged.

"I think I'm going to resolve to at least _try _and reconnect with my family more this year." Chelsea shrugged as well before turning to the Professor. "Hey Chuck, listen. My dad told me that he's actually been secretly acting as a physician for mutants ever since he retired, and he wants you to act as a sort of consultant for him."

The bald professor looked a bit surprised by the information given to him before he thought it over. "He wishes to create a medical service that won't discriminate against them, correct?" He asked.

"Bullseye." The woman nodded.

"Very well. I'll give him what information I can." He replied.

"That's pretty cool of him." Gavin nodded.

"Yeah." Everyone nodded as well.

Later that night, everyone arrived back at the Institute and both Gavin and Chelsea started talking to Bast about her visit with her family.

"So how'd it go?" The boy asked.

"My mother was really happy to see me, so were my brothers. But when I tried to talk to my little brother Ali about why he converted to Christianity, he constantly cut me off." The catwoman shrugged.

"Maybe he felt uncomfortable?" Chelsea offered.

"Maybe. But he seemed more angry to me, like he didn't want to hear what I said so I couldn't change his mind. I wouldn't have, though." She shrugged.

"That's gonna have to take some working around. Closed minds are the worst kind." Gavin groaned.

"True." Bast nodded. She then seemed to remember something. "Oh yeah, while I was there in California I actually met this really nice guy."

"Really? Who?" Chelsea asked in intrigue, which Gavin shared.

"He was a guy from the military named Johan Sever, he never mentioned what branch he was from though." She told them. "And get this, he really loves cats."

"Think your appearance will help win him over?" Chelsea asked with a grin.

"Maybe. But I think I'll just stick to us being friends first." The woman shrugged.

"Wait, Johan? Sounds German." Gavin said in realization. "Germans make me nervous." He added.

"He's a German-American that's… Not very fond of Hitler's past actions, to put it lightly." Bast said while she tried to figure out a light way of saying it.

"Oh." The boy said as he nodded.

After they finished talking, everyone had their dinner and everything got set up, the fireworks were set to go off at exactly midnight. Everyone was watching the ball on the Empire State Building as it got ready to drop and then the countdown started.

"Is everyone ready for the big moment?" Logan asked as he looked around with a grin of anticipation.

"Oh yeah." All the students nodded before they started counting. "Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… _One_… HAPPY NEW YEAR!" They all yelled and cheered as Amara, Jubilee and Scott lit the fireworks and they all went off in an explosion of sound and color.

Gavin had earphones on so his ears wouldn't be hurt as he lit the fuse on a massive two foot tall red white and blue rocket. "Here's to the year of the mutants!" He said as the rocket shot off.

He watched with a smile as the rocket soared into the air before exploding loudly in a glorious array of colors.

Rogue watched the display with him. She was wearing the choker he gave her and as thanks for making her life so much better over the past year, she kissed him on the cheek as the bell toll of midnight stopped.

"Thanks for making this year the best year of my life so far." She told him.

"No problem." He replied as he kissed her forehead, causing her to blush with a smile.

Chelsea, meanwhile, had just pulled Logan in for a kiss at midnight as well. "That should give us some luck this year." She smiled as they separated.

"Like we need it." Logan grinned as he kissed her again.

(Elsewhere)

Mystique had just finished watching the New Years ball drop as she finished reading a book on baby names, a disk sitting beside her on the coffee table. Baby Gender: Male, it read.

"Hmm, now, what should your name be?" She thought aloud as she looked at the book's list of names while stroking her belly. She then came to a name that felt right. "Hm… Yes. Damian will be your name. Damian Shirakumo." She decided, then she looked at her calendar. "Three months to go little Damian, then we can go meet your father, and maybe he can give you a sibling." She chuckled in a dark and seductive tone.

**Dragon Emperor0: Clarification: that line Gavin made about Germans was a hellboy reference. He's not racist.**

**ThermalsniperN7: And keep an eye out for Johan's name in future chapters. He'll have an interesting role. Anyway, see you guys next chapter.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32: Hatari! **

It was early March at the Institute and everyone was getting home from school with their progress reports. Gavin and Devin were entering the main room while they looked at each other's progress reports.

"Straight A's again, I see." Gavin said as he noted his brother's report, which was all A+s, except for drama which was an A-.

"A string of B's and an A again, I see." Devin parroted, noting his brother's report being full of B+s except for drama, which he got an A+ on.

"Hey, at least _I'm _not the one with an A- in something as easy as drama class." The pseudo vampire said.

"... Shut up." Was the metal mutant's only retort.

After they all got in, Gavin went down to the Danger Room and started doing a run called 'Vampyr's Vendetta' on repeat. This consisted of him fighting endless waves of Life Model Droids in the shape of HYDRA soldiers, getting blasted by lasers and flame throwers, attacked by drones, saw launchers, and large slabs of metal dropped on top of him which all weighed ten tons each.

He had been doing this for the past three months ever since he overheard Chelsea talking about the memory that resurfaced. Due to him doing this method of training nonstop for this period of time, his base power became as strong as Level 2. Level 3 will be as strong as Level 1. Level 2 will be as strong as Level 0 (pre enhancement). Level 1 will be as strong as Level 0 (post enhancement). And Level 0 is left ambiguous.

Why was he doing all this? Because he had a one man war to prepare for. He had gotten around three hours of fighting in before he spent the remaining hour trying to hold up the giant ten ton slabs that were set on top of him. It had reached around a hundred slabs when Storm and Evan walked in the danger room and were pretty surprised at the amount of weight Gavin was holding up.

"What the-?!" Evan got out as he looked at the sight with wide eyes, Storm in the same boat as he was.

Gavin's arms began to slowly tremble as they started to give, the weight that was on top of them reaching right around nine hundred thousand tons. "Arms are starting to give…" He groaned painfully.

Before his arms could give out fully, he quickly turned into smoke and got out from underneath the large pile of weights, leaving them to crash to the ground with a loud thud. He reformed before he collapsed in exhaustion and breathed heavily. Ororo and Evan rushed over to him in concern.

"Gavin, are you alright?" The weather witch asked.

"I'll live." He groaned as he rested.

"What the heck were you thinking, man?! You were holding up nine hundred tons!" Evan exclaimed.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I've taken up the hobby of mutant bodybuilding?" Gavin asked as they helped him up.

"Not even close." Was the spikey boy's response.

"Gavin, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were getting ready to wage a war." Ororo commented as she and Evan carried him out of the Danger Room.

"If that was the case, who would I wage it against? The Manhattan High Sea Hawks?" The boy joked before groaning as his muscles ached.

"Come on, hotshot. Let's get you to the infirmary." Evan said as they continued on their way.

(The next day)

Rogue, Risty and Gavin were getting ready for their next class when the pseudo vampire decided to bring up the British girl's pregnant aunt.

"So, how's your aunt doing?" He asked.

"Oh she's doing great, according to her and the doctor, she should be having the baby any day now." Risty told him.

"Oh… Good." Gavin said in a slightly strained tone, though thankfully Risty never picked up on it. Rogue placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, which thankfully worked.

"What's it's gender?" Rogue asked.

"It's a boy. And she's already picked out a name too." Risty told her.

"Really? What name did she pick?" Rogue asked, unable to stop herself.

"Damian. And the middle name she picked was Qrow." She replied.

'_Damian Qrow Shirakumo… Huh. It actually works.' _Gavin couldn't help but think. As they got to their lockers, Rogue decided to change the subject.

"So something really crazy happened at the Institute last night with miss Munroe." She told her friend. "After a training session with Evan, she totally wigged out. Now she's paranoid that someone's out to get her."

"Probably something to do with her claustrophobia." Risty said before she covered her mouth.

"How'd you know about that?" Rogue asked with a raised eyebrow, which Gavin mimicked.

"Uh, Aunt Raven told me. Apparently she was shoved into a crate as a kid before being shipped off to America back in the sixties, part of a human trafficking case I think." She explained nervously.

"Ouch." Gavin cringed. "Not pleasant."

"Well that explains a lot." Rogue nodded as they then went to class.

The next day everyone was then hit with the double whammy of yet another incident with Storm's case of paranoia and the shock that Evan was going to be leaving the Institute.

"Are you seriously gonna take this lying down, Evan?" Gavin asked.

"I never took you for a quitter, Daniels. Guess I was wrong." Devin scoffed.

"Why the heck are you two acting like you're caring?" Evan asked with a scoff.

This remark got him slammed against one of the lockers by Gavin as Devin tried to keep Jean, Kitty, Scott and Kurt back from the two.

"Now you listen to me, you little _punk_." Gavin hissed, anger clear in his voice. "We aren't _acting _like we care, we're doing this because we _actually _care. There's a pretty big fucking difference."

"Like, what's up with him?" Kitty asked.

"Evan's apparently under the impression that we don't care about him, so my brother's trying to drive the point that we do care home." Devin explained. "That, and it's the week of the full moon, so Gavin's X-gene is causing his brain to create twice as much anger endorphins than normal."

"So in other words, be careful with our words around him?" Jean concluded.

"Precisely." Devin nodded.

"Anything else we should be aware of?" Scott asked.

"No, I don't think so." The boy said as Gavin let Evan go and the boy walked away from the group.

(Later that night)

Chelsea and Gavin were in the middle of a sparring match in the Institute's backyard in the middle of a dense fog. After hearing about the fact that the boy was essentially having an 'anger-period' as Devin put it, she decided to help him vent said anger while also talking about the boy's boost in power and current training regimen.

"Why'd you come up with a regimen like that, exactly?" The dragoness asked as she threw a punch.

"Even if you were to force me into a choke hold, I wouldn't tell you. It's personal, okay?" The boy said irritably as he caught the punch and squeezed on the woman's fist hard, causing her to wince in pain. The boy was currently wearing a tracksuit, so due to the humidity caused by the fog, it did little to lower his irritability.

He let the blond woman's fist go and was about to throw a punch when he paused. Somewhere in the fog, he heard numerous whispers speaking of things he couldn't identify. He tried to listen as closely as he could, but the voices were too scattered.

"Wait, you hear that?" He asked her, which got her to shake her head.

"No. What are you hearing?" She asked.

"I hear…. Whispers. What they're talking about is a mystery to me, though." He replied with furrowed eyebrows.

"Whispers?" Chelsea asked. Then her nose picked up something. "Wait, now that you mentioned it, I do smell several people. They smell like they've been on a safari." She added, sniffing the air before pinching her nose.

"Yeah, and… Hang on, they're, they're speaking in Swahili." Gavin noted as his ears finally managed to pick up a couple words.

"Can you understand what they're saying?" Chelsea asked.

"A little. My mom used to take me and Devin on trips with her to Africa, and our guides usually spoke Swahili… Okay, one word I _definitely _recognize is, Hatari. It means danger." Gavin explained.

"Isn't that the name of a John Wayne film?" The blonde asked in confusion.

"Well yeah, in fact it's one of my favorites, but that's beside the point." Gavin said. "The point is that we're dealing with-AGGGHHH!" Before he could finish his statement, he howled in pain as he clutched his ears as an unbearably sharp and ringing sound entered his ears.

"Gavin, are you okay?!" Chelsea asked in concern as she rushed over to him. "Hey what's wrong?" She asked before he punched her in the gut so hard, he sent her flying into a tree. As she shakily got up, she saw that the boy's eyes were wild and almost feral looking. He was panting heavily and was practically foaming at the mouth in a wild rage. "Oh fuck me…" She said as he let out a loud hiss-like roar.

(Elsewhere)

Everyone was running out of the Institute as soon as they heard both Storm and Gavin scream, but once they got there, they couldn't see them anywhere.

"What's going on? Where'd they go?" Jean wondered.

She was answered by a very pale and beaten up Chelsea flying towards them while being pursued by Gavin, who was still going absolutely berserk.

"Will someone _please _get this kid off my tail before he kills me?!" She yelled as she landed behind Logan.

"What the hell's gotten into you, fangs?!" Logan growled as he stood in front of Chelsea protectively.

He was only met by Gavin tackling him and sinking his teeth into the man's neck and applying a massive amount of pressure on his windpipe, almost as much as a lion or great white.

Acting fast, Scott fired his eyebeam at Gavin, managing to knock him off the scraggly man. Skidding to the ground on all fours and hissing at him, Gavin then turned his attention to Scott and charged at him before attempting to do the same attack on him.

Jean was quick to grab him with her powers while he was in the air, but she was straining herself due to the berserking boy thrashing around so much.

"What is going on with him?!" Evan asked.

"There's only one thing that could have caused this: the Trigger Sound." Devin noted as he recognized the state his brother was in.

"What's that?" Rogue asked, worry being very clear in her voice.

"A sound frequency only his sensitive ears can hear, it's on a frequency so specific that it can only be heard by certain species of bats. When he hears it, it sends him into a berserker rage of pure, unbridled feral instinct." The metal boy explained.

"Do you know how to get him to calm down?" Kurt asked.

"I do, but you're not going to like it." Devin told him.

"What? Do you want us to sit on him?" Chelsea asked sarcastically.

"No." He then looked at Rogue. "Rogue, I'll need you to suffocate him by hugging him to your chest as tightly as possible. Your scent could help calm him down long enough to knock him out."

"WHAT?!" Rogue shouted with an atomic level blush, the solution almost making Jean release Gavin.

"What she said!" Kitty agreed with her own blush.

"This is what I meant when I said you wouldn't like it." Devin sighed.

"What if he tries to bite me?!" She snapped.

"I can't hold him for much longer guys!" Jean said as her hold started to wane.

"... Fine." Rogue sighed before she reluctantly made her way to Gavin. Jean then dropped him and fell to her knees, allowing the pseudo vampire to charge at his auburn haired friend and then get pressed into her chest as she grabbed and held him as tightly as she could. Naturally, Gavin struggled to get free, but Rogue refused to let go, though her face was cherry red throughout the whole ordeal.

After a few minutes, the pseudo vampire's movements slowed before they ceased altogether and Rogue released him and saw that his eyes were closed but his rising and falling chest told her that he was still breathing. Sighing, she picked him up and walked to the Institute.

"Ah'll put him in his coffin." She told everyone before she sent a glare at Devin. "You owe me big time for this, Devin. Ah hope you realize that." She growled, getting a nod in return. With that, she headed for Gavin's room

(Later)

As soon as the boy managed to wake up, everyone went to find Storm. Apparently while he was out, Wolverine had managed to find an old friend of hers who had somehow gotten into the Institute's yard and told them that a witch doctor called the Hungan had her captured in a crate on a cargo ship.

Once everyone made their way there, they went to rescue the weather witch. Once they got to the crate she was in, however…

"Are you kidding me?!" Gavin growled angrily upon seeing that Storm was under the madman's control.

"What are we gonna do now?!" Kitty asked as she tried to not get blown away.

"I've got an idea. Gavin, come with me, I'm gonna need your crazy ears to find this guy." Evan called over the howling of the wind his aunt was producing.

"Got it!" The angry boy called back. As the two boys searched for Hungan, Gavin listened for any chanting in Swahili, though when he did, he also heard the Trigger Sound as soon as they found the man. It was coming from a whistle fashioned out of a bat skeleton.

The second the Trigger Sound reached Gavin's ears, he re-entered his berserker rage and charged at the witch doctor, murder in his eyes.

"DIIIIIIIIIIIE!" He roared as he charged at him in his smoke form. With a mighty lunge, the boy exited his smoke form and tackled the African witch doctor and threw a reforge around him, forcing the staff and whistle out of his hands and towards Evan. And then he did something unspeakable. As soon as he had Hungan pinned down, he clamped down on the man's throat and crushed his windpipe before ripping it clean out of his neck.

Evan looked at the display with a scared look before he looked at the bat whistle and shot a spike through it, rendering it useless. He then tried to get away from the scene as quietly as he could with the Hungan's staff in hand.

With Gavin, as soon as the man under his grip was rendered lifeless, a whisp-like whitish-blue orb floated from the corpse, and on instinct, Gavin snatched it out of the air with his mouth and gripped it tightly in his fangs.

Evan, meanwhile, had just released Storm's spirit from the staff and she was back in action. But once they got to where Gavin was, the weather mutant gasped in horror at what she saw: Gavin was standing over the dead body of Hungan, with the man's soul between his fangs.

"Auntie O… I'm scared." Evan whispered in fear as his legs trembled.

"And I don't blame you." Ororo said as she held her nephew close.

"What _is _that thing?" Rogue asked, pointing at the orb in the boy's mouth.

"That… Is Hungan's soul." Ororo explained.

The explanation made everyone look at Ororo in shock before they turned their attention back to said man's soul.

"And he's gonna eat that?!" Scott asked, his eyes wide behind his shades. As if to confirm what he just asked, the currently feral mutant swallowed the glowing orb in one gulp, licking his lips as if it tasted good before he smiled widely, saliva dripping from his open fanged mouth.

"Oh crap…!" Evan got out before Gavin suddenly charged at them.

However, before he could cause any harm, Xavier acted quickly and sent several psychic waves at the boy, quickly disabling him and causing him to collapse. Everyone let out breaths that they didn't know they were holding while Evan fell to his knees.

"That was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen." He got out as he breathed shakily.

"So, what? The kid can eat _souls _now?" Chelsea asked incredulously.

"That it would seem, Chelsea, yes." Xavier nodded gravely before taking notice of the smashed bone whistle. "Evan, you said the Hungan used this to make Gavin hear the 'Trigger Sound', correct?"

"Yeah. Why?" Evan asked as he calmed himself and got up.

"I think I may know why the Hungan used this. He somehow knew about Gavin's sensitivity to it and used it against us as a means of distracting us long enough for him to capture Ororo." The man theorized. "Though in any case, we should get him home. No doubt he'll be waking up with a rather large headache."

Everyone nodded before they made their way back to the Institute, Evan practically clinging to Storm like a lifeline. It would take a while for him to get what had transpired out of his mind.

(The next day)

Everyone was finally able to relax after the whole ordeal, but Gavin was still slightly shaken by the fact that his powers apparently gave him the ability to eat someone's soul, though oddly enough he still thought it was kinda cool.

"Sorry that I scared you guys… Twice." He apologized to them as Evan came down with his stuff while Ororo and his mom were talking.

"That was pretty nerve wracking, not gonna lie." Scott said, Jean nodding in agreement.

"Yeah. No argument here." The boy sighed.

"That aside though." Ororo said while turning to Evan. "Evan, your mother and I were talking and, we think it would be alright if you were given another chance."

"Wait, seriously?!" The blonde asked in surprise. Everyone all smiled when they heard this news, especially Gavin.

"You were there when I needed you. So I'll be there for you as well, if you let me." Ororo told him.

"That goes for the rest of us, too." Scott nodded as he and Gavin draped their arms over Evan's shoulders.

"Heck yeah! Spyke's in the house!" Evan cheered as he pumped his fist in the air triumphantly.

(Elsewhere)

-_In an undisclosed hospital, New York State-_

Mystique was currently in a hospital bed in her normal blue skinned form while dressed in only a hospital gown and her legs were spread open as she panted, moaned, groaned, and screamed as she was giving birth. And the doctor who was helping her give birth, was none other than Sampson Marks.

"I can see the head! Keep pushing!" He urged. The man was called in because he had at least three or so years of experience with delivering babies of mutant women so far, which really was his saving grace if he was honest.

"AAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!" The shapeshifter screamed before she gave one last push, her eight hours of struggling and agony after nine months of waiting was finally rewarded by the sound of her crying newborn son.

Sampson quickly handed the baby to the nurse next to him and she cleaned the newborn before swaddling him in a blanket and handing him to Mystique's awaiting arms. "Here's your son, ma'am." She said as she gave the newborn to his mother.

Mystique smiled as she looked down at the baby. He was rather small, even by newborn standards, but was still very healthy. He had black hair like his father and blue skin like her, but his skin also had small dark navy blue spots that resembled freckles, but had the texture of alligator skin all over his body in various places. He also had wine red eyes, just like Gavin, and lastly a small birthmark on the side of his neck that looked vaguely in the shape of a bird.

"Welcome to the world, my darling Damian." Mystique cooed softly, kissing the baby's forehead as he nuzzled his little head into her bosom. Though it seemed like he was trying to get away from the bright lights of the room, as if it hurt him. Damian whimpered in pain before he began to lightly cry. Mystique frowned slightly before taking part of the blanket and covering his face to shield him from the light.

"He seems to be sensitive to light. Perhaps it's part of his mutation?" Sampson asked.

"Perhaps. Though you said that you saw something odd about his ultrasound when I first came to you, why?" She inquired.

"Well, it's just a theory, but I believe his mutation may have activated as he was growing in your womb." The Marks patriarch explained. "And he also seemed to have a twin as well, but as soon as the mutation occurred, his embryo absorbed the twin's embryo."

The shapeshifter looked at her son with wide eyes. Not only had her son's mutation apparently activated as he grew, but he absorbed his twin as well? This was very new.

"Well then, it seems that my little boy is much more special than I realized." She smiled as she kissed the infant slightly before she handed him back to the nurse. "Now that he's born, the next phase of my plan can begin." She grinned darkly as the doctor and nurse left her to get some much needed rest.

**Dragon Emperor0: Dark undertones aside, isn't it great that this chapter ended with something as awesome as the birth of a baby?**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. After what Gavin did, something like this is very welcome.**

**Dragon Emperor0: And before you guys ask, yes Gavin was always able to suck out souls, he just hadn't figured it out until now. Also the training part with the metal slabs? Got that idea from a Teen Titans episode. And the Trigger Sound? It's basically my version of X-23's Trigger Scent, and plus it's an old element to his powers left over from one of his original drafts. I added it to give him a weakness that could be exploited by enemies to turn him against the others.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Honestly, it's more like a double edged sword. If done improperly, it'll draw Gavin's rage to them instead of their enemies.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Hence why I kept it. Anyway, Damian's finally here and we are currently 3 chapters away from the next big Arc in the story. An arc that me and Thermal are **_**dying **_**to write because of how much we planned for it. The Vampyr's Vendetta arc.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yep. It's also where two new badasses get introduced. I would give you their names, but that would ruin the surprise now, wouldn't it?**

**Dragon Emperor0: But a little preview. Expect some references from Hellsing: Abridged and Naruto in this arc, specifically from the character Pain. And the training Gavin's doing? It's gearing up for this arc. So be prepared!**

**ThermalsniperN7: You forgot to add Castlevania to the reference list. **

**Dragon Emperor0: Riiight, whoops. Anyway, see you guys next chapter!**


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33: Grand Theft Jet **

It was a few days since Gavin learned he could eat souls, and everyone was finally able to get over the nerve wracking shock, now they were all about to get ready for bed. But just as they were doing so, there was a knock on the front door.

Devin was the one to answer, and was surprised to see Roxy standing there with several suitcases beside her, and a duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

"Roxy?" He got out in surprise.

"Hey, Devin. My bros finally decided to let me come here. Mind giving me a hand with my stuff?" She greeted him then asked.

"Of course, here." The boy nodded as he helped her get her bags in. "Remind me, how many brothers do you have again?"

"Five. Our parents passed away when I was little so Darry's been the one to hold up everything. Well, him and Soda." The girl shrugged.

"Soda?" Devin asked in confusion.

"His real name is Solomon, but everyone calls him Soda because that's pretty much all he ever drinks." The girl explained.

"Odd, but okay." The walking T-1000 reference shrugged.

As the two entered the main common area, everyone turned to see Roxy. "Hey Roxy!" Kitty waved. This was followed by everyone else giving her an equally warm welcome, save Logan, though that was basically his MO.

"Hey guys." The girl smiled as she squinted to be able to see clearly as the Professor came up to her. "Oh hey, you're Professor Xavier, right? I'm Roxanne Styles, but you can call me Roxy."

"Yes. Welcome to the Institute." The elder telepath greeted.

Roxy then spent the rest of the night unpacking and talking to everyone else before they all went to bed. But right around three in the morning, they were all abruptly woken up by the alarms going off.

Everyone rushed down to the front door as the person who had barged in reached the front door, revealing that it was Lance Alvers, aka Avalanche.

"Something we can do for you, bub?" Logan growled.

"Yeah, actually. Don't suppose you guys have a spot open, cuz I wanna join the X-men." Lance told them, much to everyone's surprise.

"... What?" Gavin asked blankly.

"Psh, yeah right, and I wanna be the sugar plum fairy." Chelsea scoffed, crossing her arms.

Everyone laughed at the dragoness' words while the quake generator crossed his arms indignantly.

"Now now, everyone, let's at least hear what he has to say." Xavier said as he rolled up to them. They then went inside and the Professor had Lance sit in one of the seats in his office while everyone stood or sat elsewhere. "Alright Lance, what made you want to become an X-Man?" The telepath asked.

"Yeah, don't you like living with those losers?" Kitty asked.

"Yeah, quit stalling Lance, we know you didn't come here just to talk." Scott growled.

"I just felt like it was time for a change of pace." He shrugged. "Plus, I wanna see the differences between you guys and the Brotherhood." He added.

"Very well then. Why don't we give it a try?" Xavier said, sticking his hand out to the boy. This caused Gavin to twitch in anger.

'_What the actual __**fuck **__is he thinking?!'_ He thought as he subconsciously deployed his fangs and started to hiss. Jean placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

"Look, I know you're wary, but at least try to give him a chance." She told him.

"The fuck are you talking about, Grey? I'm not wary, I'm pissed the fuck off!" Gavin hissed at her, forcing his shoulder out of her grip.

Jean looked at him with a frown on her face. She knew the full moon would make him more hostile, but she wasn't expecting it to be this severe. At this rate, he'd likely start lashing out at the slightest provocation.

Kitty was picked to show him around and, true to form, she was very flirty when she did it, literally pulling him through the door using her powers. The walking richter scale making the signs of his crush on the intangible girl no secret, judging by how bashful he was during the whole ordeal.

"Can he get any more obvious?" The pseudo vampire said nonchalantly as they left the room.

"This coming from the man who was grinning like a fool after he motorboated his southern lady friend's breasts?" Devin smirked.

"Sh-shut up!" He retorted with a blush as he punched his brother's shoulder.

After Lance was shown to one of the guest rooms, he unpacked what he brought (which was a single duffle bag) and crashed for the night.

The next day Lance was having to sit through a flight simulation training session with the New Mutants, and Bobby (aka IceMan) was at the helm.

"Alright, Bobby, take her up nice and slow." Scott instructed.

"Alright! Let's kick this thing into high gear!" The walking ice cube maker said as he pulled up on the simulator's controls.

'_Pretty sure this is the exact opposite of what Summers had in mind…!' _Lance thought as he tried to keep his stomach's contents where they belonged.

But as soon as Bobby pulled up, the simulator started to nose dive, meaning it was about to crash, which caused the metal box to shake around like crazy. Everyone then left the simulator and Bobby started bragging about it not taking him as long to crash that time, which earned him a swat in the back of the head from Chelsea's dragon tail.

"Crashing the goddamn thing faster than last time is not something you should be bragging about, snow cone. In fact the point of these exercises is to make sure you don't crash it at _all_." She snapped at him.

"Yeah, that kinda hotdogging is gonna get you and your entire team killed." Logan added.

Bobby's shoulders slumped as he walked away dejectedly. Lance, meanwhile, was being checked on by Kitty.

"You okay Lance?" She asked.

"Yeah, nothing I can't handle." He replied, trying to look good in front of her. Though as soon as she had her back turned, he went off somewhere to go hurl.

Chelsea sighed as she shook her head. "That kid's got it _bad, _Kitty."

"You can tell?" Roxy asked, who had also been part of the session.

"Oh yeah, big time." The blonde nodded.

The next day everyone was outside doing target practice with flying saw blades. Amara was up first but only got two out of three, Bobby hit all three of his, but had to get saved by Scott when he started showboating. Lance was next, though the others weren't sure how he'd do.

Before the turrets could even fire, the living richter scale sent tremors their way and disabled them quickly and destroyed the other targets.

The day after that everyone did an obstacle course. Lance ended up coming in last, but what really shocked everyone was how the legally blind Roxy had somehow come in first by somehow digging her way under the competition.

"That has to count as cheating, right?" Lance called up to the control room.

"No, digging is part of her powerset." Scott told him.

Right at that moment Gavin entered the room with Devin right behind him. Though everyone was surprised to see that he wasn't wearing his original costume, but rather a new one. Which was a pair of grey pants, a pair of black ninja sandals, and a grey shirt that was all covered over by a long-flappy sleeved black cloak with a high collar that stretched around his entire neck area and covered his mouth. The cloak itself had several red bats on it which were outlined in white.

"Hey, where'd your other costume go?" Lance asked.

"It's getting repaired." The boy shrugged. "Now clear out everyone, it's my turn to use the danger room now."

"What, you think you can actually set a good example for us?" Avalanche taunted. "You just seem like a poser to me, Shirakumo."

This caused Gavin to glare at him angrily, though his mouth was hidden by the collar of his cloak. "You really wanna start picking a fight with me, Alvers?" He asked, clenching his fists, which apparently had black nail polish on them (mainly because Rogue wanted him to stop his habit of chewing his nails).

"Depends on if you wanna make it one." Avalanche smirked. The other New Mutants joined in as well, everyone except for Roxy, who had been in plenty of arguments like this one to know where things were going.

Gavin sighed. "Alright, if that's the way you wanna play it." He then turned to the control room. "Hey Scott! These fools just really don't get man, like, I'm a god, ya know what I'm sayin'? I'm a _god_." He then turned back to the trainees. "Well, I'm gonna have to show 'em."

"Bring it on!" Iceman challenged. Popping his neck, Gavin rolled up his pants legs and sleeves, revealing he had leg and arm weights wrapped on them.

"Alright, you see these? These are my training weights, they weigh exactly ten times my own body weight and really slow me down. So I'll keep these on as a handicap, ya know, to make things fair." The boy told them before readjusting his clothes.

"Oh, now you think you're cute and funny, do you?" Lance growled, feeling insulted.

"Bitch, I'm adorable and hilarious." Gavin rebuked.

With that, the fight began. The first to attack was Ray, who shot a bolt of electric energy at the pseudo vampire. But he evaded the attack faster than either of them could blink, and then a second later he appeared right in front of Ray and sucker punched him in the jaw, sending him careening onto the hard metal floor.

"Even with those weights on, he's as fast as Quicksilver?!" Bobby gawked.

"Or even faster." Sam nodded.

Gavin then attacked Bobby, who tried to freeze him in place, but the older boy used his smoke transformation to avoid it and sweep his legs out from under him before drop kicking him in the stomach and swinging him by the leg into Sam, who was sent flying into a wall and squishing poor Jamie and Kai, who were actually trying stay out of the fight.

"Yikes, sorry guys!" He apologized before turning back to the others. Amara and Jubilee both backed away slowly from the fight, leaving just Wolfsbane and Lance.

Wolfsbane attacked first, turning into her wolf form she snarled and lunged at Gavin, and when the boy tried to roundhouse kick her, she flipped out of the way before landing behind him and sinking her teeth into the back of his right leg.

The pseudo vampire just looked at her with a deadpan look that asked 'was that supposed to do something?' Though it still hurt a bit.

"Biting me? Is that really all you can come up with?" He sighed, ignoring the pain. He then swung his leg around and did a side spin in mid air which made Wolfsbane let go and then he delivered a solid kick to her ribs before sending her crashing down onto the ground with the girl letting out a wolf-like yelp.

With that done, all that left was Lance. The living earthquake started to make everything shake, but due to Gavin having a strong inner ear he had a better center of gravity and was able to avoid falling down, though it was with some difficulty. As soon as he was close enough, the boy quickly did a split before he slid in and delivered a hard punch to the other young man's groin, doing a nut punch that would have made Johnny Cage proud.

"Oooh!" Everyone winced.

"Right in the batteries!" Jamie said as he covered his eyes.

Lance held his manhood as he stumbled around in pain. He tried to glare at Gavin, but failed miserably. The superior mutant of the fight walked over to him before he slammed the quake generator's head onto the ground, knocking him out cold.

Turning back to the control room, Gavin rested his hands behind his head. "Hey Scott, you think they got the message?" He asked as he started walking away. "Should I ever be challenged again, I won't go so easy." He then stepped out of the door and as it was closing, he looked over his shoulder at the kids he'd just knocked senseless. "I'mma. Clap. Dose. Cheeks." He smirked as the door closed.

Everyone just looked at each other in shock. "He was going easy on us?" Rahne asked.

"Let's just keep our mouths shut and not say something stupid whenever we're around him. Agreed?" Sam said.

"Agreed." Everyone nodded.

The next day everyone was doing a rescue exercise in the pool. And they all used their powers to rescue their assigned victims. Kai made an especially valiant effort when she used her water controlling powers to gently lift Jean out of the water and use her powers to dry her off by getting all the moisture off her and back into the pool.

Roxy unfortunately had to rely on the life preserver to get Devin to safety fishermen style, since she wasn't a good swimmer.

Lance, meanwhile, deviated from his assigned target (who happened to be Rogue) and went after Kitty instead. This annoyed both Scott and Gavin to no end, especially Gavin who seethed at the sight of his southern friend almost drowning because of Lance's hopeless crush on Kitty.

"Wrong target, Romeo! You just let a few people drown!" Gavin called out.

"Yeah, but look at who I rescued." He shot back with a smirk as he held his crush in his arms.

"Ugh, creep!" Rogue shouted as she stormed past them and knocked them both back into the pool. After that, Kai dried her off and put the water back in the pool.

(Later that week)

Gavin was walking out to the garage with Scott and Kurt, but when they opened the garage door, both boys' cars were absolutely filthy, though Scott's was in absolutely deplorable condition while Gavin's had the exhaustion pipe frozen off.

"WHO TRASHED MY CAR?!" Gavin roared furiously. Before he could get an answer however, Lance had already left with the other possible suspects.

At school, Lance had been cornered by his old allies at the Brotherhood, who were less than pleased to see him, given that he had ditched them.

"Man, Mystique's gonna hand you ya left arm when she gets back." Toad told him, hopping around.

"She ain't comin' back!" Lance snapped.

"Oh she's back alright." Everyone then turned to see Gavin who was hanging upside down from the lockers and reading a car magazine. "I know because I ran into her at a club last year. And ya know what happened to me after that?" He asked them.

"Um… Do we wanna know?" Pietro asked, unsure if he wanted an answer or not.

"Depends, have any of you been drugged and raped?" The boy asked.

"... Please tell me that ain't what happened." Toad pleaded, the others thinking the same thing.

"Oh I _wish_. I just heard from her niece, my friend Risty? That she gave birth to her-_our-_son, three days ago." The pseudo vampire said, never looking up from his magazine.

'_Oh man… I don't think I can look her in the eyes anymore.' _Lance thought, now feeling extremely sick to his stomach.

"So, tell me guys, would you still stay loyal to her after hearing this? Oh, I know! How about I tell you a theory I have about how she'll use our child against me to get what she wants?" Gavin asked them, dropping down from the lockers.

The Brotherhood glanced at each other with unease. Could they really stay loyal to Mystique after hearing Gavin's story?

"How do we know you aren't just blowing this out your ass?" Tabitha asked. She instantly regretted her words when she was on the receiving end of a demonic glare from Gavin.

"Do I _look_ like I'm joking?" He growled threateningly.

The blonde bomb maker gulped nervously. "Uh… No?" She said.

"Good answer." He told her as he dropped his glare. He then walked off, magazine in hand, and left the former teammates to their original conversation.

(Later that night)

Lance was walking down the hallway to the kitchen to get a midnight drink of water when he saw Gavin rise out of his coffin like he usually would on weekends. Luckily he wasn't too scared of this, but then he walked into the kitchen and saw Kitty head and neck on a plate in the middle of the table with an apple in her mouth.

Seeing this immediately caused him to faint, which made Gavin chuckle as he entered the room and got himself something to eat.

"Pussy." He said while walking past the unconscious boy to the fridge, getting a glare from Kitty, which he responded to by holding up three joined fingers (which was basically a coded version of flipping her the bird).

(Elsewhere)

The New Mutants had just dragged Kai and Roxy out of bed to come with them on a Joyride in the X-Van. The pink haired adrenaline junkie was all for it, but Kai wasn't since she didn't want to upset Chelsea and Bast, but after some convincing from both Amara and Jamie, she finally gave in.

Right now they were bebopping around in the van when Bobby suddenly made an ice loop ramp which sent them flying and made Kai land right in Jamie's lap.

"Sorry!" The water bending child apologized as she got off Jamie's lap.

"Don't worry, you're fine." The multiplying kid assured her. Though the contact caused him to create a duplicate so he had to reabsorb it to let her sit down. The two blushed as they tried to buckle their seatbelts again.

"Hey guys,check this out." Roxy said as she pressed a button, causing missile launchers to appear. "Wanna blow something up?"

"Heck yeah!" Bobby exclaimed in excitement. Pressing the launch button, causing the missiles to fly into the ocean, causing fish to fly onto the road after an explosion sent them out of the water.

Kai, feeling sorry for the little guys, sent them back into the water, but kept a large tuna to bring home for Bast.

"Aw yeah, this X-Van rocks!" Everyone cheered as they continued riding.

(The next day)

Everyone was now heading to the hangar for an early morning training mission with Logan, but when they got there, they saw the twins and Chelsea there too. They were standing in front of the X-Jet.

"And here's our pride and joy, the X-Jet…" Logan started to tell them before Gavin dramatically cut him off.

"The SR-77 Blackbird, an advanced, long range reconnaissance aircraft, capable of Mach 3 and an altitude of eighty five thousand feet!" He said dramatically as his long black locks flowed in the open air as he spoke.

"... You sure do seem to know a lot about it." Chelsea noted, knowing where this was going.

"DO YOU EVEN READ MY CHRISTMAS LIST?!" He shouted at her questioningly.

"You have a Christmas list?" Bobby couldn't help but ask.

"Shut up, Bobby." The pseudo vampire snapped.

"So, are we actually flying this thing?" Ray asked in excitement.

"Yeah, that'll happen." Logan chuckled, rolling his eyes as he led them all to the garage. "Let's start off with something small, like the X-Van." He told them as he opened the garage door.

When they looked at the X-Van, all they got was a wreck that looked like it went through a filthy grinder.

"What happened to the van?" Gavin asked. Chelsea looked at the kids and noticed Kai was fidgeting nervously with her hair braids, a nervous tick she had. Roxy, meanwhile, couldn't quite see how extensive the damage was.

"Is it really that bad?" She asked Devin.

"It looks like someone drove it through a mud pit while crashing into things constantly." He explained shortly.

"Wow, I don't remember hitting that-" But she stopped herself before she could spill the beans, luckily.

Everyone seemed nervous, but Scott, being the stiff boy that he is, immediately started blaming Lance for the condition of the van.

"Okay, that's enough, Scott. There's no solid evidence saying that it was him." Devin intervened.

"I hate to admit it, but my walking lightning rod of a brother here has a point." Gavin nodded. He then turned to Kai. "Speaking of, Chelsea, don't you think it's odd that Kai came home with that massive tuna last night?"

"Yes I do, as a matter a fact." The blonde agreed before addressing Kai. "Something you want to tell us, Kai?" She questioned sternly.

"Uh… I went fishing last night. I sometimes do it when I can't sleep. The ocean kinda calms me down." The girl explained, it was mostly true, she did do that a lot.

"Oh. Okay, then." Chelsea shrugged, knowing how she did that at times. Gavin, however, immediately picked up on the fact she was lying this time, but for the sake of not causing any more drama, decided to keep quiet.

(Later that night)

Gavin woke up again for his nighttime routine after taking his noontime nap and started heading towards the kitchen, but then he saw the new mutants, Kai and Roxy all heading towards the hangar. Deciding he was gonna need help, he went to Lance, Devin and Kitty's rooms and woke them up.

"Guys, I think the kids are about to take the X-Jet for a joyride." He told them.

Devin facepalmed. "Damn it! Roxy is a total adrenaline addict, she won't be able to resist!"

"And the kids don't seem to care about the damage they cause either." Lance added.

"Looks like we'll have to stop them." Kitty concluded, getting nods of agreement from the boys.

"Let's move, come on!" The pseudo vampire said as they ran towards the hangar, once there, the jet was already about to take off so Kitty phased them through right into the cockpit as the plane left into the air, startling the kids who were on board.

"Stop the jet, _now!_" Gavin ordered sternly.

"Can't! We're already airborne!" Bobby told him as they suddenly flew over New York City.

Meanwhile, down on top of the police department clock tower, seven odd looking creatures watched the jet fly by. What were they, you ask? Gargoyles. Real, living, Gargoyles.

"Hey Lexington, look!" A red gargoyle with long hair and a rather long face said, pointing at the X-Jet. "Think that's one of Xanatos's planes?"

"Nah, can't be, it's way too low profile." A yellow skinned gargoyle said. His wings were fused to his arms and looked like pat's wings. "Though… Hey, Brooklyn, I think they're having trouble flying."

"Oh boy. Goliath is not gonna like this." Brooklyn groaned. "Come on, Let's go."

With the mutants, Bobby finally managed to get the jet under control, and now was trying to get away from the city so he could turn around. Though everyone else was getting chewed out royally by the older kids.

"What the actual hell were you guys thinking?! Are you _trying _to compromise us just so you can have fun?!" Lance barked.

"We were just gonna do a loop around and be back before nine, it's not like we were gonna do anything crazy." Sam told them.

"Yeah, we learned our lesson after taking the van." Jubilee nodded.

"And Scott's car." Added Amara.

"And your car." Admitted Ray.

"You kids owe me big time for that." Gavin said in a deathly calm tone.

"Uh guys, we got something tailing us!" Bobby called back.

"Is it a missile?" Kitty asked.

"No, it looks like something else. Not sure what, though." He replied with a shake of his head.

Gavin climbed up to the roof and looked out, his eyes widening in shock as his night vision let him see what was tailing them clear as day. "Holy _shit_!" He yelled.

"Gavin, what is it?!" Devin called over the winds.

"We've got living, breathing _gargoyles _following us!" He called back, shock evident in his voice.

"_WHAT_?!" Everyone exclaimed in disbelief and shock.

"Are you serious?!" Lance called up to him.

"Yeah I am! Do I sound like I'm not?!" The still shocked boy questioned.

"Fair point." The older teen nodded.

"What do we do?" Bobby asked as he finally turned around, the gargoyles following suit.

"Get as close to the Institute as possible, we'll land and try and shake them once we're close enough to call for help." Gavin said as he hopped down. "One of them looked me dead in eye, and I couldn't tell if he was being friendly or not."

"I don't think we wanna find out. Punch it, Bobby!" Kitty ordered.

"On it!" He replied as he increased the thrust. He also added the cloaking device for good measure.

Around fifteen minutes later they were finally able to get back to the Institute, however, due to their evasive maneuvers with the gargoyles, the jet's paint job was a little scratched up and the tank was completely empty when they landed.

"Think we lost 'em?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, they're long gone." Bobby sighed as he plopped back in the pilot seat.

"We aren't gonna tell the others about this, are we?" Kai asked nervously.

"They'll find out no matter what, so it would be best to get it out of the way now." Devin stated.

"As for the gargoyles, though… Let's keep that little tidbit hush-hush for as long as we can. There's no way they'll believe us right now." Gavin added seriously.

"Agreed." They all nodded.

(The next morning)

Xavier, Logan, Chelsea and Scott were all in the hangar with the students after they saw the condition the plane was in, which was honestly just cosmetic. And Scott was busy chewing Lance out, again.

"Hey, Lance didn't do it, we did. He was trying to stop us." Kai spoke up.

"We did it to your car along with Gavin's, too." Bobby added.

"And The X-Van." Sam added.

"And Logan's motorcycle." Jubilee continued off handedly.

"... My _motorcycle?!_" The triggered scraggly mutant growled angrily.

"Just kidding, just kidding!" The explosion producing girl said placatingly.

Just then, Kurt walked in, but upon seeing the jet, he immediately dropped the can of wax in his hands. "Aw man! Vis is going to take a lot of wax!" He groaned.

"I don't think that will be necessary, Kurt. Consider your probation complete." Xavier said, making the blue furred boy perk up. He then turned to the other students, aside from Lance, Kitty and the twins. "But yours is only just beginning." He told them, causing them to sigh.

"And I'll be handling yours personally." Chelsea said while grabbing Kai by the back of the collar.

"Meep!" She squeaked as she was carried off.

Scott then looked at Lance sheepishly. "Guess I owe you an apology." He told the teen.

"We all do." Xavier nodded.

"Apology accepted." The quake generator sighed. "Had certain information been disclosed to me, I'd probably head back to the Brotherhood right now." He said as his hand subconsciously went to his stomach as certain sickening thoughts from before entered his head again.

"Does that mean you're willing to stay?" Kitty asked hopefully.

"Yeah I am." He confirmed. This got a smile from Kitty as she hugged him by the neck and gave him a peck on the cheek, causing him to blush.

"Welcome to the X-men, Avalanche." Gavin smirked, slapping him on the back.

(Elsewhere)

-_Manhattan Police Department Clock Tower-_

All the gargoyles landed on the clock tower roof the following night as their human friend, Detective Alisa Maza, walked up to them.

"Any luck guys?" She asked.

"Nah, no sign of the jet, or the kids who flew it." Broadway, a burly blue-green gargoyle, told her.

"It just doesn't make any sense. How could they have disappeared into thin air like that?" Lexington pondered, sitting down.

"I'm not sure, lad." Hudson, an elderly gargoyle, shrugged.

"Hmmm." Hummed Goliath, their leader, as he kneeled on the ledge in thought.

"What is it, Goliath?" Alisa asked.

"One of those children looked at me, as he looked into my eyes he seemed to be surprised, rather than scared. And then he somehow created a large cloud of smoke out of the palm of his hand before he and the aircraft disappeared." The gargoyle said in a deep voice, confused as to why the boy seemed happily surprised to see gargoyles for the first time.

"That's certainly different. The part about his producing smoke from his hand is a little odd, though." The sole human of the group commented.

"Think it was magic?" Brooklyn asked.

"No. This was something different, something… Older." Goliath said thoughtfully. "Though it can wait. Lexington, did you manage to place the tracking device you developed on the tail of the plane?"

"Just barely due to how it was flying, but yeah. It stopped somewhere in a town called Bayville." The brains of the group replied.

"Bayville? Hey, I got a cousin who goes to a school there." Alisa said in realization.

"Really? Where?" Lexington asked.

"The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. My cousin's foster daughter goes there." She explained.

"What is her name, las?" Hudson asked curiously.

"Kai, Kai Maza. Originally she used to live in Hawaii, but after she was stuck in a human trafficking situation that ended up killing her twin sister, she was adopted by my cousin and her girlfriend." Alisa told him.

Goliath was silent through this exchange. "Then perhaps, we may find answers there?" He wondered aloud as he looked up at the sky.

(Elsewhere)

-_Xanatos Tower-_

David Xanatos was standing in his office looking out the window when his wife, Fox, suddenly entered. She was accompanied by a very familiar looking blue skinned and red haired woman, who had a small bundle in her arms.

"Fox, dear, who's your friend?" Xanatos asked.

"This is Raven Darkholme, she's an old friend from college. But she also goes by-" Fox explained.

"Mystique." Mystique finished, little Damian squirming in her arms. "I'm surprised that you are not scared of my appearance, Mr. Xanatos."

"Considering what I've dealt with these days, being scared of appearances is hardly something that gets to me." The man said with a shrug.

"Yes, your gargoyle friends, correct?" The shapeshifter nodded. "Well, the reason why I've come here is because…" She then let Damian pop his little head out of the blanket he was in. "Is that I'd like you to use your understanding of science and magic to help me gauge the extents of my son's mutant abilities."

Xanatos looked at the baby and the back at his mother. "Very well." He nodded. "Though, in return, I'd like to know more about mutants. They seem very… _Interesting_."

"By all means, ask away." Mystique smiled as the two continued to talk.

**Dragon Emperor0: Yes guys, this is not a joke. The Gargoyles have **_**officially **_**become part of the Vampyr universe.**

**ThermalsniperN7: And **_**man**_ **is it gonna be fun to write!**

**Dragon Emperor0: I mean seriously, can you imagine the conversations Mystique/Demona, Xanatos/Magneto, Xavier/Beast/Goliath would have? So much writing and story potential!**

**ThermalsniperN7: And we're gonna exploit the hell out of it! Am I right?!**

**Dragon Emperor0: Hell yeah. Anyway, see you next week!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34: Mind Games**

**References to Dragon X this chapter, keep an eye out.**

It was a couple weeks after the whole Joyride fiasco and all of the New Mutants had spent that time doing busywork. Tedious tasks such as washing the X-Van, Jet, and both Scott and Gavin's cars. And any allowance they had earned was spent on the repairs. Additionally they also had round the clock training sessions with Chelsea and Logan. Especially Kai, who had her probation monitored by Bast and Chelsea personally. They had exactly four weeks of this: one for each vehicle damaged.

Right now though, Chelsea was in the middle of having coffee with the rest of the teachers. "I really am serious, Ororo, you shouldn't have had to go through that last month. No one should." The blonde said, referring to how the Hungan used her like a remote control car.

"You say that like you have experience with it." Xavier noted.

"I do, actually. Back when I was a test subject in Hydra, one of the prime subjects was a kid who could relay thoughts from one person to another. Think like a transmitter for cell phones."

The telepath and other instructors nodded. Especially Logan, recognizing who she was talking about. " He could do it to anybody, consent or not. He could make you relive the most horrid things he had absorbed over his years there, or drain your own experiences. The doctors brainwashed him at an early age, or long ago or something because he was their devoted probing drone."

"Do I want to know how bad he was?" Beast asked from his chair. Chelsea sighed before she answered.

"He was the definition of a sadist. He showed absolutely no mercy in what he did, and we all knew it." The blonde explained. "He was used a lot on me for punishment. We'd sit in a room, with me strapped to a chair, and he'd just stare at me, relaying these thoughts to me. I was always in trouble and so those sick bastards there thought that enforcing these experiences and memories of others on us was a good way to break prisoners. It was a smart idea." She then sighed. "Thanks to Frost's treatments I can barely remember them. But the outline is still there."

"The kid's name was Kuo, in case you were wondering." Everyone then turned to Bast, who had spoken. "I hated him the most."

"Then he's at the top of my kill list." Another voice added.

Everyone turned and saw Gavin reading a car magazine casually. He turned the page before he spoke again. "If that little shit's as bad as you think, then I'll be sure to break him as badly as I can." He told Chelsea and Bast.

"And how would you do that?" The dragoness asked.

"Simple, let him see the insane asylum that is my wonderful brain." He smirked, tapping his forehead. "Then watch him go insane instead."

"You shouldn't joke like that, Gavin." Ororo said sternly.

"Whoever said I was joking?" The boy asked as he closed his magazine and left the room, leaving everyone in a state of confusion.

Though they didn't have time to dwell on it when Storm's phone rang. "Hello?" She said, then her eyes widened as the voice she heard registered. "T'Challa? What-how-Why are you calling me?"

"Who's T'Challa?" Chelsea whispered to Logan.l

"Someone important." Said man replied.

Storm continued to listen to the man. "Yes, I'm fine. That's why you called? To make sure I was alright? Well, that's very sweet of you, how's Zuri? Did she? Oh that's wonderful news, and what of your father, is he well? Good, good." She was quiet for a minute before speaking again. "I'm flattered T'Challa, I truly am, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to consider '_that' _just yet. I have my work at the Institute and Evan to look after. Yes, I'll think about it. Alright, give your family my best wishes. Good bye." She then hung up and was met with everyone's curious gazes.

"What was that all about?" Bast asked for everyone else.

"It was… My Ex-Fiancé, T'Challa, crowned prince of Wakanda." She told the Gazan catwoman. "He was calling to check on me after hearing news of what happened to me from one of his spies."

"Hang on… Wakanda. The only person I know of who's the crowned prince there, is the current Black Panther. You know him?" Logan asked.

"It's a long story for another time." The weather witch deflected.

Everyone decided to leave the subject hanging for the time being, and just continued to discuss other things.

(The next day)

Devin walked inside the Institute after going to the circus with the others, and was holding a jack in the box in his hands. He had originally wanted to win it for Roxy, but she said she didn't want it. He looked at the box in aggravation.

"What am I supposed to do with this thing now?" He asked himself in slight frustration. Going up to his room, he just set it on his desk and went on with his day. But that night, he suddenly started having a very odd and disturbing dream.

(Devin's Dream)

Devin was in the rain in a dense forest he recognized immediately as the Suicide Forest in Japan, hung corpses and nooses lay and hung everywhere and with every step he took he was filled with an ever growing feeling of fear and dread.

He had always hated this place, in fact it was where one of his and Gavin's old friends took her like after she had an abortion she didn't want to do out of guilt.

He soon passed an old tree and when he did, he saw a girl who was crying, she had her back to him so he couldn't see her face.

"Hey, what's wrong-AAAAGGHHH!" He screamed the last part when she faced him, because what he saw on her face terrified him. She didn't have a face.

The metal mutant quickly ran away, he knew only one Yokai from Japanese mythology could do that: the Jorogumo - a spider woman. That particular monster terrified Devin, particularly because he had a crippling fear of spiders, and arachnids in general.

He kept running through the forest, trying to escape, constantly seeing the same faceless women try and reach out to him as he went deeper and deeper and the forest becoming progressively more and more with spider webs.

And then he reached the biggest tree at the center of the forest, trapped. The women and hundreds of spiders crawled towards him, and then he saw the Jorogumo. It towered over him, having the body of a spider at its lower half and the body of a beautiful woman at the top, but it soon shifted its face to that of a spider before it lunged at him, causing him to scream.

(Back in the real world)

Devin shot up with a scream, his eyes wide in fright. As he tried to calm his racing heart, the jack-in-the-box suddenly began playing its music on its own.

The boy reached over for it and looked at it as it stopped playing. Was it broken? His unspoken question was soon answered when the jack in the box popped open and revealed the figure inside, causing him to let out a startled yell.

(The next day)

Everyone was currently looking around for Devin, who had gone missing last night. There were no traces of him anywhere, not even a note. Naturally, Gavin was pretty worried.

"Devin? Hey where are you?" He called as he walked around the Institute.

"Cars are still in the garage." Kitty said as Lance and Rogue went to check up with her.

"Okay, now I'm really worried." Roxy stated nervously.

"How do you think Gavin feels?" Lance asked rhetorically before he frowned. "This is starting to get weird. How does someone like Devin just up and vanish?" He wondered.

Both Roxy and Gavin went to check his brother's room with Xavier, the telepath's attention immediately focusing on the odd jack in the box on the boy's desk.

"What do you think this jack in the box plays into this?" He asked them.

"Not sure. He won for me at the carnival last week, but I didn't want it." Roxy replied with a frown.

"Yeah, I can't really think of it having any significance either." Gavin said, shaking his head.

"Then it would seem that some time during the night, Devin simply vanished." Xavier said thoughtfully.

"How did this happen, though? That's the question I want answered." The worried pseudo vampire stated with a frown.

Meanwhile, everyone was looking around town. Kurt was teleporting around the school. Rogue was checking the local music stores, and Gavin was driving around calling people.

"Hey Risty, you seen Devin anywhere?" He asked her over the phone.

"_No. Why? What's up?" _She asked.

"He's missing." He told her.

"_What? How? Why?"_ The British girl questioned in surprise.

"I don't know." The boy replied.

Meanwhile, Kitty and Lance were trying to ask the Brotherhood had seen him, though this was met by Blob and Pietro showing them the front door.

"Well excuse us for asking! Assholes." Lance lamented as they left.

"No kidding." Kitty Agreed.

Elsewhere, Chelsea and Logan were checking the airport, the scraggly mutant showing the teller a picture of the Japanese boy.

"Hmmm, yeah. He was here at four in the morning. He purchased a ticket to Boston." He said after a moment.

"What for?" Chelsea asked him.

"He didn't say." The man shrugged.

After this was discovered, Xavier picked up Devin's signature in Boston, he was using his powers.

"It's confirmed, he's in Boston." The man told Gavin and Roxy.

"What could he possibly be doing out there?" Gavin wondered.

"Is he using his powers?" Roxy asked.

"Most decidedly." Xavier nodded.

(Elsewhere)

Down in the hallway to the danger room, the New Mutants we headed to the training room, presumably for a scheduled class for that day.

"Are you sure we should be down here? Because I think we should be looking for Devin with the others." Jubilee stated.

"Hey, last I heard, we were supposed to be having class. That's all I know." Ray shrugged.

"Yeah, I mean if Gavin can do it, so can we." Amara noted.

"Hey guys wait up-Oof!" Jamie said as he came running down the hall before he slipped and fell, creating several clones. Kai walked up behind him and helped him up, which made him blush in embarrassment.

"Th-thanks." He stuttered slightly. They then walked up to the rest of the group. "No one told us we were having a session down here." The younger of the group said.

"Sorry, Multiple, Namaka, but this is way above your level." Ray told them.

"What are you talking about? I had to fight to survive most of my life." Kai snapped.

"Sorry guys, we're just more experienced at this than you." Jubilee said as they closed the door in their faces.

Kai puffed out her cheeks in anger and then Jamie got a wicked look on his face. "Wanna sabotage them?" He asked. Kai grinned evilly in response.

"It's like you read my mind." She responded with an evil voice. The two then headed for the control room to exact their revenge.

(Elsewhere)

Devin was standing outside of a museum in Boston in his costume, which he had added an X-Men logo to the back of its jacket and turned into liquid metal to slip under the gate and for door undetected before slipping into an unmonitored air vent and then sliding down the wall to a display case that had a ring inside.

Turning the molecular structure of his body translucent he made sure the cameras couldn't see him before he turned his arm liquid before sliding it into the display case from the bottom and absorbing the ring into it before retracting and escaping the way he came in, not tripping the alarms.

The next day, he arrived back at the Institute at night and easily got in since he was an authorized user. Entering the school, he walked down the halls, only to stop when he was met with the barrels of Gavin's two guns.

"I don't know where you've been or what you've been doing, so spill it." He ordered his brother.

His brother just wordlessly looked at him before he turned his hand into a sledgehammer and slammed it into the side of the pseudo vampire's head faster than he could react. With that, it was lights out.

The T-1000 reference incarnate then went to Kurt's room and then the hypnosis affected him. After this, the two took the X-Jet and flew away.

The next morning, Beast was looking up the ring Devin had taken, and had apparently found a lead on where the second one was.

"So wait, it's in the New York City township bank?" Gavin asked.

"Yes, and the safety deposit box in the vault it's in belongs to David Xanatos. If that ring gets stolen, it will no doubt draw his attention." Beast replied, getting Gavin's attention.

"Wait, _the _David Xanatos? You're kidding, right?" He questioned in surprise.

"Is he famous?" Chelsea asked, Roxy nodding in agreement, having no idea what made this guy so famous.

"Yeah, he is. In fact, in a recent issue of People magazine reported that his wife, the former TV star Fox, is gonna have a baby soon." The boy nodded. "He's also been suspected to be a member of the Illuminati."

"... Why?" Roxy couldn't help but ask.

"Trust me, if I knew, I'd tell you." Gavin said before he turned to Xavier. "But that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is that he has his own army of robotic Gargoyles that are programmed to protect his assets, should they be threatened."

"If those things find and see Devin and Kurt, or worse, capture them-" Ororo noted in worry.

"You don't need to finish." Xavier cut her off.

"We need to get to New York, _pronto_." The pseudo vampire said as he quickly turned into his first costume, which was finally repaired. Red coat and floppy fedora flopping in the breeze of the ACs as he walked.

(Elsewhere)

-_Xanatos Tower-_

Xanatos had just finished looking over the information that Mystique had given him on mutants and the diagnostics he ran on Damian in immense intrigue.

'_These mutants, they seem to be as old as humanity if not older, and this X-gene is especially interesting as well… I wonder if my son will develop one when he is born?' _The man wondered as Owen, his assistant, entered the room. "Ah, Owen, how goes everything?"

"Not good, unfortunately, Mr. Xanatos." The man explained. "I just received word that your safe deposit box at the township bank is currently being raided."

The famous man looked at his assistant with wide eyes. "What? Who is behind it?" He questioned.

"It's unclear, they seem to have either evaded or disabled the security systems, or both." Owen explained. "I also received word that detective Alisa Maza will be arriving at the bank any minute now."

The entrepreneur pursed his lips in slight irritation. First he had unknown assailants raiding his safe deposit box, and now he had an ally of his enemies getting involved in his business. This was rather irksome.

"Prepare my suit and the Steel Clan." Xanatos said as he got up. "I will handle this matter, _personally._"

(Elsewhere)

-New York City Township Bank-

The X-Men were now in a standoff with Devin and Kurt and none other than Detective Alisa Maza, who had just arrived on the scene. Currently, Gavin was standing between the two hypnotized mutants and the others with his sword pointed at Alisa (which was floating in mid air), and his guns at both Kurt and Devin to make sure they didn't try anything.

"Alright, who or what exactly are you people?!" Alisa snapped, her gun pointed at the X-men, which made Gavin make his sword inch closer towards her as he hissed at her, showing his fangs.

"Shut it, we're kinda in the middle of snapping our friends out of some wack job's hypnosis." He hissed.

"And you expect me to just believe that?" The policewoman asked with narrowed eyes.

Kurt was about to teleport him and Devin away when Gavin activated his guns, causing him to freeze. "Kurt, I swear to god if you move another muscle I will shoot the hypnosis out of you. And I don't have these things on stun either." The pseudo vampire warned.

Xavier then rolled up to Alisa. "If I may, detective, I could give you the answers you're looking for." As the woman turned to him, the telepath immediately started to cause her to forget the stand off and go back to her car with no recollection of the incident.

Though this seemed to distract everyone long enough for both of their targets to disappear again.

"Damn it!" Gavin yelled in anger as the two got away.

The next day was spent trying to find the third ring, which was in Washington DC. They also found out that the person who was hypnotizing the others was a mutant named Mesmero. However, before anything could be done about it, while everyone was sleeping, Devin had somehow gotten control of both Kitty and Evan, and had left on the X-Jet to DC.

"Okay, this is getting on my nerves." The horror aficionado grumbled irritably.

"Agreed." Ororo nodded, feeling personally offended that Mesmero had the gall to rope her nephew into this. She was going to end this personally.

"Same." Lance nodded, who was in a similar boat as the other two.

(Elsewhere)

The four hypnotized mutants were able to get the last of the three rings without a hitch thanks to Devin knocking out the guards well enough to where they wouldn't remember anything, Kitty disabling the security systems, Evan sealing up any entries and lastly Kurt teleporting them to the room of the target and out once Devin stole the ring.

But now, just as they were about to give the rings to Mesmero, they hit two snags: Xanatos and his Steel Clan, and the X-men.

"Well ain't this just perfect!" Avalanche groaned before he sent out a quake at the mechanized Gargoyles..

"You got that right!" Gavin snapped as he sliced a metal gargoyle in half before he was attacked by Xanatos himself.

"Alright, I'm only going to ask this once: who are you, and what do you think you're doing with my property?" The man said through his suit.

"We're the X-men, and _we _don't want your property, a mutant named Mesmero does." Gavin growled as he delivered an uppercut to the man's metal jaw. Xanatos grunted and staggered back before righting himself.

"If that's the case, then what could he possibly want with my ring?" He questioned as he charged at the sword wielding boy in front of him.

"Apparently it's part of a set of three, and I have no idea what they're for. But if watching so many Indiana Jones movies has taught me anything, it can't be good." Gavin grunted as he grabbed Xanatos's incoming arm and used his momentum to flip him over his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Evan was fighting both Ororo and Rogue, and the former was trying to get the boy to listen to her.

"Evan, snap out of it! Can't you see you're being controlled by someone?!" She called out, trying to reach her nephew while she dodged his attacks.

Evan didn't seem to be listening, as he was still attacking them with very little remorse hinted in his gaze.

Next was Wolverine and Avalanche, who were fighting Kitty. Logan unfortunately couldn't bring himself to lay a hand on her, which earned him a swift kick in the shin by the intangible girl. And when Lance tried to grab her she went through him, but he still was able to tackle her when her back was turned.

"Kitty, come on! Snap out of it already! I hate seeing you like this!" He said as he attempted to reach her… Only for the girl to simply phase out of his arms. Lance had a blank look on his face before he facepalmed. "I should've seen that coming." He groaned.

"Yeah, you should've." Wolverine agreed from his crate as he cradled his sore shin.

Kurt was being wrestled by Beast, but he was having trouble due to the smaller fuzzball's constant teleporting.

Lastly was Devin, and he was the hardest to beat out of them. He had already destroyed all of the Steel Clan and now had Chelsea, Jean, Scott, Roxy and Xanatos (who had decided to join forces with them given it was the most logical course of action) on the ropes, clearly showing just how powerful his fully enhanced Omega Level X-gene was.

Right now he had just slammed his fist, which was in the shape of giant mace, into the side of Chelsea's dragon form skull, causing her to crash to the ground after being sent tumbling a couple feet.

"We need some kind of strategy, here!" Jean said as they regrouped.

"I have one." Xanatos said as he shot two shock discs at Devin's feet, which due to him being both metal and covered in water, made him a very powerful conductor. The boy screamed in pain as the electricity shocked him. When it was over, he fell to the ground, unconscious. Roxy ran over to him and immediately took him into her arms, obviously worried.

The bag of rings dropped to the ground in front of the tent where Mesmero was, Jean tried to bring it to her telekinetically, but Mesmero caught it before it could reach her.

Xanatos immediately pointed his arm cannon at the hypnosis mutant. "Alright 'Mesmero', this can go two ways, either you give me those rings voluntarily, or not. Your choice."

His target glared at him before speaking. "You have no idea what you're getting involved in, do you?" He asked. He didn't wait for an answer since he immediately turned and went into the tent. Acting fast, Jean used her powers to rip off the whole tarp… And Mesmero was gone! As soon as he was gone, everyone that was hypnotised slowly returned to normal.

Xavier clutched his head as he felt a wave of residual psychic energy hit him, Roxy oddly enough felt the same wave, though not as much. "Mesmero… He was just another puppet. There's someone else pulling the strings." He thought aloud.

The millionaire turned to him as he removed his helmet. "How do you mean, Xavier?" He asked.

"I'm not sure, but whoever it is has a mind far stronger than any I have ever encountered." He replied with uncertainty.

"Well ain't this just a fuck fest." Chelsea groaned as Gavin helped her up. "I think Devin just gave me a mild concussion."

"We'll get you looked at when we get back to the Institute, scales." Logan told his girlfriend.

Xanatos then turned back to Xavier and then extended his hand. "Well, it seems that you and I have been wrapped up in something rather big. I'd say it'd be worth it for both of us to work together on this."

"So it would seem, Mr. Xanatos. Though I'm curious, how do you know so much about mutants?" Xavier questioned.

"A colleague of my wife, Fox, is a mutant. If I remember correctly she has the ability to shapeshift." The man replied. The description caused the X-Men to stiffen. Ororo was the first to speak.

"Mr. Xanatos, that description belongs to one of our enemies. Mystique." She explained.

"Yeah, and she's done a severe wrong by me in my book." Gavin added, showing a large amount of disdain for said woman.

"How so? As far as I can tell she's just a single mother." The millionaire stated.

"She's my mozer, and trust me, she's got a rep of sleeping around." Kurt piped up.

"Yeah, and one of those unlucky saps happened to be _me!"_ Gavin added with a hiss.

Xanatos looked at him in shock. "No… She didn't…" He breathed.

"She did. And she drugged me to make it happen, too." Gavin confirmed.

"Mystique had a baby with her when she came to me, does this mean that it's yours?" Xanatos asked, his hands shaking slightly from his anger at what Mystique had done.

"Yeah, that baby is my son, Damian Qrow Shirakumo. And I'm determined to get him home." Gavin nodded firmly.

(Elsewhere)

_-Tibet, Unknown Cave-_

Mesmero walked into a cave and took a rod that was hidden in a stone pillar and slid the rings onto it before walking up to a giant stone slab with Tibetan and Egyptian symbols on it, he then stuck the rod in a keyhole and turned it, causing the pillar to open and reveal another with an Egyptian spider scarab beetle on it.

"I have done as commanded. I apologize for not being able to bring you the grey skinned girl as you had requested, but I will bring her to you at the earliest opportunity." Mesmero said to whoever was behind the gates. "I await your instructions on the other two keys."

After a moment, an unknown force sent the instructions into his mind, causing him to groan from the speed in which it was sent. When it was done, he stopped groaning and stood straight again.

"Understood. I will find your granddaughter and the two keys. And once again the world will tremble at the presence of... Apocalypse." The man said before bowing. He then left to fulfill his tasks.

Meanwhile at the Institute, Roxy suddenly sat up and deployed her stingers. She had just felt the energy that was released from the first gate, almost as if she were connected to them.

"First that weird feeling I had when Mesmero disappeared, now this? What is going on with me?" She whispered as she put her hand on her forehead. After calming herself, she laid back down and went back to sleep.

None of them had any idea just how close Apocalypse and Roxanne Styles were connected, not even her… At least for now.

**Dragon Emperor0: And with that we are officially one chapter away from the Vampyr's Vendetta arc. And Xanatos has officially joined the Apocalypse prevention party.**

**ThermalsniperN7: And the plot is also thickening! *Dramatic spooky noises***

**Dragon Emperor0: Yeah, I mean, who would have guessed that Roxy was a direct descendant of Apocalypse? Though I guess the grey skin was a dead giveaway.**

**ThermalsniperN7: It kinda was. Anyway, see you guys next chapter.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35: The First Avenger, Reborn.**

A couple weeks after the Mesmero incident and the X-Men entering a new alliance with David Xanatos, everyone was still slowly recovering from the ordeal, particularly Chelsea and Roxy. The former because of a concussion she had suffered and the second due to odd feelings she had been having since the incident.

Currently Chelsea was putting her jacket back on after Beast had done a routine blood test, and was now listening to the results as Gavin printed them out for the good doctor.

"Here you go." He said as he held out the results to Beast. As the man read it over, he hummed in intrigue as something caught his attention.

"What is it, Hank?" Chelsea asked.

"Well, there are two odd anomalies I'm noticing here with your DNA. First is reptilian genes…" The ape mutant stated.

"What about them?" The blonde inquired.

"Well it's the second one that irks me. There apparently seems to be an ancestral trait that you inherited specifically, which mingled with your X-gene. Making it _older _than it should be." He told her.

"Older?" Chelsea asked.

"I bet ya twenty big ones that you're probably descended from Tiamat herself." Gavin commented jokingly.

"Shut up. There's no way that's actually true." The dragoness huffed.

"Ya never know…" The boy chuckled. "Anyway, I gotta get moving. Later."

After that, Chelsea joined Logan on a ride on his motorcycle, but it was soon interrupted by a trio of HumVs and an Army chopper, which gave chase to them.

"What the hell? Why are they chasing us?!" Chelsea asked as they dodged the gunfire.

"If it's who I think it is, then I'm gonna be super pissed." Logan growled. They then went off road and in between two rocks and stopped two of the three, and Chelsea breathed fire at the tires of the third, causing it to flip over.

As soon as they were at an open area, it was at a cliff, which a helicopter flew in front of them, which caused Logan to deploy his claws and Chelsea to go dragon.

"Dragon Up!" She said as she transformed.

The helicopter suddenly turned its side to them and revealed that it was a SHIELD vehicle. The door opened up and a grizzled looking old veteran in army clothes wearing an eyepatch on his left eye came out. The man was an African American man with a beard and was also bald. He looked similar to Samuel L. Jackson.

"Hold it right there Logan. And tell your girlfriend to stand down, or we will fire on her." The man warned as the helicopter's turret gun pointed at Chelsea as her mouth filled with fire.

Logan growled before he turned to his draconic girlfriend. "You can stop now." He told her. The dragoness sighed as she turned back to normal as the copter landed as the man walked up to them.

"Fury…" Logan growled, then two or three more SHIELD soldiers came out of the woods, apparently scared out of their minds.

"What's your deal?" Chelsea questioned.

"Some crazy kid in red attacked us, scared half our guys to death, but we got him, he's dead now." One soldier said, still scared.

Logan and Chelsea looked at each other and sighed. "Gavin." They both deadpanned.

"You idiots mean to tell me you killed a _kid_?!" Fury snapped.

"Yeah, we had to to live, so we pumped him full of lead." The second soldier said, causing Logan and Chelsea to smirk at each other.

"So let me get this straight. All you did was shoot him?" The blond dragon asked, her smirk never waning.

"Um, yeah. Why?" The second asked.

"Well, we got nothing to worry about in that case." Logan said casually. "Ya see, that's just step one."

"Which means you guys forgot to do steps two through ten." Chelsea chuckled.

"Wait, what?" Fury asked intelligently.

"Ah Christ…" All three soldiers said as Gavin reformed out of smoke in front of them, his injuries completely gone.

"You done goofed." The pseudo vampire told them.

"How in the hell did you do that?!" The first soldier asked.

"Fuck you, that's how!" Gavin retorted.

Fury facepalmed as if he recognized the boy. "Well Gavin, I see you haven't changed at all." He sighed.

"Come on, Nicky. You know you love it when I'm like this." The boy told him jovially.

"You two know each other, Smokey?" Logan asked.

"You could say that." Gavin nodded.

"Who is this guy, anyway?" Chelsea asked while stomping towards Fury, getting in his face. "I mean seriously, you got a lot of nerve pal, interrupting my date like this."

"Why don't you just ask?" Gavin offered.

"Well?" The blonde prodded, ignoring the boy's statement.

"Nick Fury, director of SHIELD." The man told her. He then looked over at Logan. "The reason I'm here Logan, is because Rebirth has been stolen."

Gavin and Chelsea raised their eyebrows in confusion while Logan grabbed the man by his collar. "Impossible! There's nothing left of it. Rogers and I made sure of that!" He stated fiercely.

Fury gave him a 'get off my suit' look before sighing. "There was a backup. Since it was a touchy subject, we had it under level six security." The man explained. "Whoever did it was able to do this to titanium steel doors, as well as knock out security with magnetic interference, we're talking Mutant here." He continued.

Logan looked at the picture and knew only one person capable of this. "Magneto." He growled.

"What could he possibly want with it?" Gavin asked with a furrowed brow.

"That's what we don't know. But we need to get it back." Fury told them.

"We'll see what we can do, patch, but next time…" Chelsea said while poking him hard in the chest. "Point a gun at me again, and I'll show you why your ancestors feared dragons." She warned, causing the man to sigh.

(Later)

Chelsea was sitting in the main front room when she heard something small tapping on the screen door. As she turned to see what it was, she saw that it was as a small box tortoise.

Feeling a little curious about the tortoise's behavior, she went to the door and opened it before picking it up and holding it up to her face.

"What are you doing here, little fella?" She asked.

As if to answer her question before it even uttered a word, the little reptile's stomach rumbled. "_Hungry._" It told her. Almost immediately, she recognized its voice.

"Hey, you're the little tortoise I helped in the woods before." She said, smiling she brought him into the kitchen and set some lettuce in front of him on the table.

As the little guy continued to eat on the food in front of him, Gavin's bat Brownie flew in the kitchen after some bugs that got in, he was then soon followed by Gavin, Kurt and Rogue.

"Okay, Brownie. You've had your fill now let's- Huh?" He said before taking notice of the reptile eating lettuce on the table. "... What's with the box tortoise?" He asked.

"I saved this guy when I found him flipped upside down in the woods, now it looks like he found me again, so I'm giving him something to eat. Poor little fella sure was hungry." The dragoness said as she stroked the little guy's head with her finger.

"Are you gonna keep him?" Rogue asked.

"I dunno, maybe." She said as the tortoise looked up at her with its little brown eyes. "Whaddya say, little man?" The woman asked. She was answered by the tortoise rubbing its little head into her hand with its equivalent of a purr. The three teens chuckled at the show of affection.

"I guess that's his answer." Kurt commented.

"Well then welcome aboard, Mr. T." The woman smiled before Brownie buzzed by her head as he hid in Gavin's jacket as the lights started to flicker. Everyone looked up at the lights in confusion.

"Is that a power surge or…" Rogue trailed off.

"Cerebro at full power! Come on, we gotta see this!" The blue fuzzball said in excitement as he, Rogue and Gavin made their way to Cerebro's control room, Chelsea opting to bring her new pet with her as she followed them.

When they got there, Cerebro was being used by the professor, which had a map of the world with every mutant on the planet.

"*Whistle* That is a lot of mutants." Chelsea said as they walked up behind them, Mr. T in her hands.

"Yes, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of them." Xavier sighed, taking off his helmet.

"Any luck finding Magneto?" Gavin asked.

"No. His cloaking technology has been keeping pace with our detection, so that's making it difficult to locate him." The professor explained.

"What does he want with Rebirth, anyway?" Chelsea asked. "I mean, if what you said was true, it could kill him."

"Yeah, but that's with humans… I wonder what it could do to mutants?" Gavin wondered aloud.

"Good question." Chelsea nodded.

"Don't go getting any ideas." Logan snapped.

"Hey, Ah think Ah may know a way for us to find Magneto." Rogue told them. "Back when Gavin and Ah were in a standoff with him in that church, Ah grazed him and absorbed some memories of a metal dome, in the Sahara desert."

"Well, that narrowed our search to several dozen miles of sand for days." The scraggly man griped.

"I'm sure Ah could recognize some landmarks." Rogue said.

"You _ain't _goin', Rogue." Logan growled.

"Ah don't think you have a choice. The memories showed me that you won't be able to get in without magnetism or…" She said before Kurt cut her off.

"Teleportation!" He whooped. "The fuzzy boy is on the mission!" He exclaimed in excitement.

Logan groaned before he noticed Mr. T in Chelsea's arms. "Is that a tortoise?" He asked in confusion.

"Yep. He's the same one I found in the woods a while back. He found his way back here for food and I decided to adopt him." She said, sounding like it wasn't a big deal.

The scraggly mutant nodded. "Well at least you got someone to talk to while we're not here. Come on you two, we'll take the X-Velocity."

Gavin smirked as he melted into smoke, leaving the other two in confusion. All this talk gave him an idea.

(Elsewhere)

_-Airspace, Sahara Desert-_

As the three flew over the Sahara, Rogue and Kurt were being filled in about what happened to Captain America.

"So this Rebirth stuff causes humans to experience cellular breakdown?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah, and because it was still new stuff, they had no idea how to counter it." Logan explained.

"Did they ever get a chance to?" Kurt asked.

"No, me and cap made sure of it, or at least, so we thought." The scraggly mutant replied.

"There! Head east of that rock!" Rogue told him. Logan did so as they continued their way to the dome.

After they landed, Rogue got a detonator and they headed to the dome on ATVs, but as they did, they were unknowingly followed by a cloud of smoke.

On their way to their target location, they were peppered by missiles launched from who knows where, and were forced to abandon their rides in favor of teleporting into the facility.

Once they were in, they saw that someone was already inside the rebirth canister. As they headed to destroy it, Sabertooth came out of nowhere and attacked Logan.

The two used parts of their surroundings to try and subdue the other, but neither were willing to give ground.

As this was going on, Nightcrawler made his way to the controls and placed the bomb on it as he addressed the person in the tank.

"I'm doing you a favor. Zis stuff isn't exactly healthy." He told them.

"On the contrary, it's my salvation." The person said, the voice revealing the occupant to be Magneto. The blue mutant could only look at him in shock.

"Magneto? Vhat happened to you?" Kurt asked.

"I'm an old man, my enhancements have kept me alive until now, but now I only have a few months to live. But you see, these canisters, and the chemicals inside, can give mutants long life, and even heal the deadliest of diseases. It's a miracle in disguise." The magnet master explained. "This is my only chance, if you take it away, I _will _die eventually. Are you really that much like your mother?"

His words made Kurt freeze where he was. Was he like his mother? No, he wasn't. Letting go of the pin, he let the canister do its job, causing Magneto to suddenly and miraculously become younger.

Before he could destroy the controls afterwards, however, Gavin appeared out of nowhere and made him back up by pointing his sword at him.

"No way, Kurt. This stuff really does work, so I am not going to let you destroy a perfect medical breakthrough like this." The pseudo vampire said before turning to Magneto as he got out of the chamber. "And I know just how I'm gonna use it, too."

"Just how are you going to do that, if I may ask?" The magnetic mutant inquired as both Rogue and Logan came over to them.

"I'm gonna get this to Dr. Marks immediately. He's a very accomplished human surgeon who does a secret job as a mutant physician. And with this rebirth stuff? We could be looking at the new penicillin." Gavin said before looking at an angry Logan. "Listen Logan, I understand how you feel, but look at it this way. Sure it was bad for Captain America, but it could be something wonderful for all of mutant kind, it's like I always say: One man's damnation, is another's salvation."

"Translation: He thinks we should take something bad and use it to do some good." Rogue stated.

Logan glared daggers at Gavin. He wanted the thing that endangered the life of one of his closest war buddies to be erased, and here stood one of his charges, defending it and wanting to use it to help mutants everywhere. Sure, it was a noble goal, but a human hating mutant might use it as a weapon against humanity.

"And what if human hating mutants try to use it against humanity?" He asked, voicing his thoughts.

"Then we destroy it. Or at least fix it to where it won't be a problem. Whichever does the most good." The boy told him. "Trust me, Logan, I gave this plenty of thought."

"I must agree with young Gavin, Wolverine." Magneto stated as he called over his helmet. "Although I have made it clear that I do not trust humanity, the fact that a human doctor is helping our kind willingly intrigues me. And I too understand your pain, after all. I remember that night in Poland where you and Rogers saved a group of Jewish POWs. I know because I was there when I was a boy."

That revelation caused the three teens to look at him with wide eyes. Magneto was a prisoner of the Nazis in the second world war?

"You were a prisoner of the Nazis back then?" Rogue asked in shock.

"Yes, it is part of the reason why I am so bitter towards humanity now. However, recent events where humans have shown me kindness despite being a mutant, has… Made me think." Magneto said before sighing. "That being said, those exceptions still prove that there is a rule. Now…" he then turned to Logan. "Tell me Logan, what would the good Captain say if he found that what hurt him could be used as the salvation of millions?"

"... I don't know." The man sighed heavily. "But, I know him, he was the type that would have chosen saving millions instead of living another day if given the choice so…" he then faced the man. "I think he'd want to see good be done instead of evil."

Magneto nodded in agreement. "My sentiments exactly." He said.

"Vell I don't know about you guys, but I'd call zis an absolute vin." Kurt smiled as Logan groaned and Gavin chuckled.

(A few hours later)

Logan was in a room standing over a cryo chamber where none other than Captain America was inside, in stasis to preserve his life. Chelsea was there too, for emotional support.

"Hey Cap, been a long time. I just wanted to say that, today we had a victory, for _you_. Rebirth has been fixed, and now it'll help mutants everywhere have better lives. I just hope you could be here to see it." He then sighed shakily as his girlfriend hugged him. "You and me, we made a great team and… I swear on everything holy we'll find that cure, I promise."

"You don't have to look any further." Gavin said as he entered the room with Fury close behind. The two turned to them with raised eyebrows.

"How do you propose we do that?" The dragoness asked.

"Three words: Bone Marrow Transfusion." Gavin replied. "More specifically, from a mutant with a healing factor."

Logan's eyes went wide in realization. "Wait, are you saying…?!" He tried to ask.

"One of us can save his life." Gavin nodded.

"But how-?" The blonde asked.

"Logan, didn't you say that you healed your ex-fiancée's grandfather from a terrible sickness by giving him some of your bone marrow?" Fury asked.

"Yeah…" The man nodded.

"Well this is basically the same concept." Gavin added.

"Then you also realise that this is gonna hurt like hell, right?" The scraggly mutant asked.

"Eh, I've been shishkababed on a reed bar before, how bad can it be?" Gavin shrugged.

"And I had ripped out my own flesh before. This won't be that bad either." Chelsea added.

"I hope you're both right, then." Logan sighed.

"However we're going to need to see who has the best healing factor out of you three to see which will give us the best results, so we'll need to test them." Fury told them.

"Oh boy." The older two groaned. They then spent the next hour testing each other's healing factors and Gavin was the one to come out on top, being leagues better than the other two.

And with that Fury had Sampson Marks come over to perform the procedure, which allowed the boy to meet Chelsea's dad face to face.

"This is a very noble and selfless thing you're doing young man, but are you sure you're willing to go through with something this drastic for a man you've never even met?" The man asked the boy as he prepared him for the surgery.

"I'm sure. He's done a lot back then. It's high time he was paid back for his troubles." Gavin nodded seriously. "Besides, the good lord gave me these powers for a reason, might as well use them for good, right?"

"A man of faith. I respect that." Sampson nodded as he placed a knock out gas mask on Gavin. "Well then, let's see if you're right." He said as the boy drifted into unconsciousness and the surgery went underway.

(Six hours later)

Gavin groaned as he came to and noticed two things: 1. He was in a medical bed. 2. The areas in which his bone marrow was taken from ached like hell, just as Logan predicted.

"Well that confirms that I can still feel pain." The boy groaned as he laid back on the pillows. As he looked around he noticed that he was in the Institute med bay. '_They must have moved me.' _He thought as three people entered: Sampson, Beast and Bast.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, sleepyhead." Bast joked.

"Did the procedure work?" The bed ridden boy asked.

"Miraculously, yes. Though it will still take Captain America time to wake from the effects of his cryo stasis." Sampson nodded. "In the meantime though, I suggest that you focus on your recovery for now." He then turned to Bast. "Miss Fatima, I'd just like to say that your help with the surgery and transfusion was very much appreciated. If you'd like, I could actually give you a position in my underground mutant clinic to help you obtain your medical degree."

"I would love that very much. Thank you." The catwoman nodded with a smile.

Gavin smiled as the two left him and Beast while the blue mutant helped him get comfortable before the others entered the room.

"Gavin, how are you feeling?" Xavier asked him.

"Yes Gavin, are you in any pain? Can we get you anything?" Ororo asked him.

"Don't go spoiling the kid." Logan stated.

"Yeah, the last thing we need is for him to get a big head." Chelsea added as Rogue walked over to him before the boy's brother and mother entered the room.

"We heard about what you did, brother." Devin commented.

"Yes, and I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of you for doing what you did." Amanda added as she hugged her bedridden son lightly.

"Thanks guys. I just hope that Cap won't be too mad that we repurposed Rebirth instead of destroying it." The boy sighed before smirking at his mother. "Say mom, how was your date with ol' Nick last week?" He asked, causing his mother to freeze where she stood.

"Wait, what?" Devin asked dumbly.

"Oh, I didn't mention? Mom started dating the director of SHIELD Nick Fury, last year. I mean, not that I can blame her, he had done a lot for her, and us over the years." The boy chuckled painfully.

"Oh really?" Devin smirked before he turned to their mother. "Should we expect a wedding between you two at some point?" He teased, causing his poor mother to go red in the face.

"D-DEVIN!" She stammered in embarrassment, causing the two sons to chuckle. Everyone else watched the scene in amusement, too.

"My oh my, how the tables have turned." Beast commented as he chuckled. Amanda could only cover her face to try and hide her embarrassment.

(Elsewhere)

Captain America slowly woke up a couple days later, and Fury was standing over him as he laid in a hospital bed.

"Welcome back Cap, sleep well?" The eye patched man asked.

The supersoldier groaned as he tried to speak. Fury wordlessly gave him some water, which he took. After downing it, he tried to speak again and got better results.

"How long was I out?" He finally asked.

"Almost seventy years, Cap. Right now you're in the headquarters of SHIELD, an organization formed by your old friends, Peggy Carter and Howard Stark." Fury told him. "I'm it's current director, Nick Fury."

"Was a cure actually found? After all this time?" The First Avenger asked, who now looked in the mirror across from him, showing he actually looked a little like Chris Evans.

"Not necessarily. You were given some bone marrow from a teenager with a naturally strong healing factor. That's the reason you're not dying anymore. That kid saved your life." The SHIELD director told him.

"Does He have a name?" Steve asked.

"It's Gavin." Logan said as he suddenly walked into the room, which caused the super soldier to look at him in surprise. "Hey there Rogers, you're looking better."

"Logan?" The blonde man asked. "You… You look like you haven't even aged a second."

"Perks of being a mutant with a healing factor." The scraggly mutant shrugged before sitting down in a chair next to him. "Now, how about we take this time to catch up?"

"Sure, that'd be great." The First Avenger said before his expression turned worried. "First Logan, I need to ask you something."

"What is it?" Logan asked.

"Bucky, he disappeared on our last mission against the Red Skull. Where is he?" Steve questioned.

Logan looked at him gravely. "Sorry Steve, but I don't know, none of us do. After that mission, Bucky just vanished somewhere in the Russian tundra. No one's heard from him or seen him since."

Steve nodded as he let out a heavy sigh, but he guessed it didn't matter right now. After all, he still had Logan to talk to.

Yes, it was a great day, because Steve Rogers aka Captain America, the First Avenger, was reborn.

**Dragon Emperor0: And with that the setup is complete for the Vampyr's Vendetta arc to start next chapter. Because that transfusion Gavin gave Cap? He did it for more than one reason.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. He did it because it would mean the Cap owed Gavin a favor or two, and it was well done, too.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Fair warning though guys, this next arc? It's gonna be some John Wick meets I am Wrath, meets Rambo, meets V for Vendetta, meets Hellsing Abridged kinda shit. So don't expect it to be too fluffy, cuz Gavin's gonna do some nasty 'Lord Please Forgive Me for What I'm about to do' kinda shit.**

**ThermalsniperN7: And let's not forget the impending Cthulhu level insanity on the horizon.**

**Dragon Emperor0: HP Lovecraft, eat yer heart out. Well, see you guys next week.**


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36: V is for Vendetta **

About three weeks had passed since Gavin had given Captain America a life saving bone marrow transfusion and Bast getting a job from Sampson Marks to help him with his practice as a mutant physician, while simultaneously getting needed experience for her medical degree. After everything that happened, everyone had finally gotten a chance to settle down and get back to life as usual at the institute.

Bast had taken up most of her free time spending time with Kai and Chelsea, and talking with both Beast and Ororo. (The woman had taken a strong liking to the two ever since they met.) And had been spending quite a bit of time sitting in on talks about humanity and cultures with them, the professor and Jean. While Gavin was still doing his odd training regimen after recovering from his surgery.

At the current moment, though, the catwoman and Chelsea were quietly talking in one of the living rooms in the mansion late at night, Bast with a cup of tea, and Chelsea with her usual beer.

"And then, the bitch says to me 'You should really cut back on your alcohol intake. it's a sign of dependence'." said Chelsea mocking a British accent.

"Hm, she could be right you know." Bast countered, sipping her tea.

"No, no no. Me indulging in booze is me making use of my freedom. I deserve to be spoiled." The blonde retorted.

"You should really find a better hobby. Get a job or something." Her cat-like friend stated. "I mean I did, and I didn't have to pimp myself out to earn a quick buck."

"Watch it Kitty Cat. You might be my friend, but that won't stop me from kicking ya." Chelsea warned.

"I'd like to see you try." Bast sneered playfully.

"Speaking of work, how were you able to avert getting caught by HYDRA all that time?" She asked.

"Well, I got into the loop of different shelters. I gave my colleagues the lie that my abuser found me and I needed to go to another branch. It worked pretty well but..." She stopped her cat-like ears twitching as she got up and walked towards the doorway as she called up towards the stairs. "Gavin? What are you doing up?"

The boy jumped down from the banister right in front of her, landing in a silent crouch. "Super hearing, I forgot you also have that."

"Yes, well, you have a very specific footstep." Bast shrugged.

"I was hoping you ladies could tell me a few things." The boy told them, adjusting the duffel bag he currently had on his person, which brought the two women's attention to what he was wearing. Which was the same outfit he used as a second costume, which was: a pair of grey pants, black ninja sandals, and a grey shirt that was all covered over by a long-flappy sleeved black cloak with a high collar that stretched around his entire neck area and covered his mouth. The cloak itself had several red bats on it which were outlined in white.

"About what?" Bast asked.

"Where the HYDRA base where you were held is." The boy answered.

"Why do you want to know?" Chelsea asked.

"I wanna pay them a visit." He told the two women.

This caused them to look at him as if he were crazy. "WHAT?!" They nearly yelled.

"You heard me, I'm gonna go to where they are, hunt everyone who was responsible down, and give them the justice they so richly deserve, and maybe destroy the bases while releasing all the subjects while I'm at it." Gavin told them. "Then I'm gonna go after that Rowner guy and drag him back here so you and the rest of your friends can exact the revenge you so rightly deserve."

"You're one kid. How the HELL are you planning on doing this?" Chelsea snapped.

Gavin looked at her coldly. "Don't underestimate me, Marks."

"Underestimate you? Gavin, we're being realistic. There's no way you can do that all on your own." Bast said vexedly. "They've been around since the 40's and still haven't been taken down by any government or special forces."

"Yeah, well maybe I'm different." He scoffed. "I'm a mutant who has god level powers after all."

Chelsea, turning her arms draconic, suddenly lifting him up by the hem of the shirt, claws puncturing the fabric. "Listen up, _punk_. I don't care how powerful _you _think you are. You are not, I repeat, _not _going after them." She slammed his back into the wall. "Have I made myself clear?!"

"Put. Me. Down." Gavin hissed, showing off his fangs in a snarl.

"AM I CLEAR GAVIN?!" She nearly yelled eyes full of a mix of anger and concern. "Listen to people who know what they are capable of. You can't do this on your own! And I will do _everything _in my power to make sure you don't fucking leave to pursue this suicide mission."

Gavin simply made his eyes flash red as he made his sword separate her from him. Taking a deep breath he called the sword back and sheathed it.

"You're wrong. Need I remind you that it took you, Logan, Rogue, and both the Professor and Jean to take me down?" He stated. "If it took five powerful mutants to take me down, how can a group of Nazi remnants beat me?" He then sighed. "Besides, I've been training for this ever since I overheard your conversation about your 'tattoo'."

Chelsea looked at him angrily, but she was kept from protesting when Gavin put the tip of his sword in her face.

"If you really knew me you'd know that I don't let anyone hurt the ones I love. And when they do, I don't let it go unpunished. I don't let go of grudges, and I'm a proactive thinker." He told her.

"What do you mean?" Bast asked.

"If I don't do something they may come after us sooner or later and we'll all have to go through this again, all this work, wasted. Is that what you want? To just sit in complacency and have them come for us? Or do you want to stop them before it happens?" He asked, before turning to Chelsea. "Besides, Don't you wanna see your friends again? Don't you want to see HYDRA burn? Don't you want to get revenge on you-know-who?"

"Our friends are dead, and if not, might as well be." The dragoness snarled.

"She's right. We know Marcus died last time he faced them. After he escaped, there's no way they would have let him live. He was too dangerous, too much of a liability." Bast said quietly, looking up with her yellow cat-like eyes at Gavin, holding a steady gaze. "And Roman... he might as well be dead. Once they brainwash a subject they're merely a husk of a person."

"You don't know that." Gavin countered. "We could save him. Get him help."

"You don't get it, kid." Chelsea chastised, her eyes narrowing. "We aren't getting them back. Ever. Even if by some miracle you are able to find Roman, it won't be him anymore. He'll just be another soldier."

"Marks have some faith." The pseudo vampire told her.

"Don't talk to be about fucking faith and hope!" She roared.

"Why don't you believe in me?! Why do you keep treating me like a child?!" Gavin hissed.

She gripped him by the shoulders, shaking him. "Because you are one! And we can't lose you! … _I __**can't**_ lose you!"

Gavin just looked at her coldly. "So that's it? You're just going to give up? Psh, I knew it. You're faithless. I should have never come to you." He said, forcing himself from her grip.

"Gavin, you can't do this, you'll probably be killed and if you don't you might-" Chelsea tried to protest further.

"Shut up." He hissed. "You don't get it, I don't plan on taking down the whole goddamn organization, I plan on starting a chain of events that will _lead _to their demise."

"What do you mean?" Bast asked.

"I'm gonna focus my strikes on their mutant weapon sections exclusively, cripple it, make them have to drop their resources there and focus on other things. Then I'm gonna hunt down two or three of their higher ups, kill them, and make it look like they were killed by vampires."

"Wait, why?" Chelsea questioned.

"Because according to Logan and Captain America, HYDRA has an old grudge against the actual Count Dracula, and if I can make them start a war with the vampires..." The pseudo vampire stated.

"They'd tear themselves apart from the resulting carnage and power vacuum..." Bast finished.

"Exactly." Gavin nodded before turning to them. "Do you see now? I have a plan, I can DO this, I can bring your friends back, I can help you guys try and find peace!" He then walked over to Chelsea and hugged her tightly. "Chelsea, please, let me do this for you, I'm begging you... Please."

The dragoness glared at him, arms crossed. "Gavin. No."

"You talk about how much you hate them. What you'd do when you get revenge. So why not?" Gavin asked incredulously. "They deserve to fall, to feel nothing but unending pain."

"I told you. We can't lose you, especially me." She looked down at her feet. "Gav, I've lost so many people. I can't lose you too. You're like another brother to me. I can't condone anything that gets you hurt. This discussion is over." She said sternly as she began to walk away.

The boy watched her, anger showing on his face. "Bast? Could you help me?"

"... It's against my better judgement, but if you think you can do it." She sighed.

"Thank you." Gavin said, hugging her happily.

"Just be careful kid." The cat woman told him. "But.. how do you plan on saving Marcus and Romano if you can find them?"

"You know Scott? He and his brother were brainwashed by one of our enemies, Magneto, and I was able to beat it out of them. So I'll just do that." Gavin shrugged.

"... I'm not even going to ask." Bast said, shaking her head.

"So where was the base?" The boy questioned.

"The alps, way up there." She told him. "It was called department H-11."

"Great, now I can ask around." Gavin smirked.

"But just know, if you do this, you're on your own." The catwoman told him.

"Fine by me, having anyone else with me would just slow me down anyway." The pseudo vampire shrugged. With that, he shouldered his duffel bag and left the Institute for his first destination: the SHIELD aerial stronghold known as the Helicarrier.

(Later)

-_SHIELD Helicarrier, hours later-_

After finally being able to track down the flying ship's whereabouts, Gavin was able to get on it by using his smoke transformation to ride several updrafts to the main deck. Though once on the Helicarrier, Gavin ended up standing face to eyepatch in front of Nick Fury, who glared at him. The boy had just boarded the ship to try and get info he needed.

"What are you doing here, kid?" Fury asked.

"I'm here to get info on a specific sect of HYDRA. One that I intend to destroy." Gavin told him.

"By yourself?" The man questioned.

"Yep." The boy nodded.

"... I hesitate to ask, but why are you doing this kid? This doesn't make any sense to me." Fury asked again and he rubbed his forehead.

"Why does anyone do anything? Sheer absolute boredom!" The boy said as he raised his arms.

The cycloptic man just sighed. "Because you're bored, you plan to destroy a HYDRA base?" Fury asked, trying to make sense of what the mutant was asking him. "One hell of a way to spend an afternoon I'll tell you that. Should I also throw in our entire alien catalogue as well?"

"I mean if you'd like to." Gavin shrugged.

Fury shook his head at the boy. "Listen kid, there's no way I'm giving you such sensitive material. I don't care who you are or what you say your business is, you're not getting our intel."

Gavin just sighed. "I was hoping we could end this peacefully, but it seems that I'm just going to have to do this the hard way." He said this as his hand slowly went down to his sword.

"If you think fighting your way through here is going to work, it won't." Fury told him as he reached for his gun.

"Who said anything about fighting?" The boy asked before he threw his hat at Fury's face to distract him and before the man could react Gavin rushed in and elbowed him in the stomach. Then he moved behind him and got him in a headlock.

"Sorry Fury, but for the sake of my friends, my family and all the other mutants HYDRA hasn't gotten to yet, I have to do this. Just know it's nothing personal." The boy told the man as he slowly started to go unconscious.

Once fury was unconscious, Gavin threw him over his shoulder and then started walking towards the Helicarrier main bay, only to be stopped by the appearance of eight people.

One was a man in some sort of high tech red and gold armor, who he recognized as Iron Man. Another was a man in some sort of combat getup with a bow and arrow, who Gavin assumed was Hawkeye. A woman with red hair who was in a tight black leather body suit that had a red hourglass as a belt buckle, and looked a lot like Scarlett Johansson the Black Widow. One was a man in some sort of Viking armor wielding a hammer, and looked like Chris Hemingswoth, Thor. The other was a robot of some sort with a red and green paint job, Vision. A giant mass of angry green muscle, and kinda looked like Mark Ruffalo, the Hulk. A tiny man who rested on Hulks shoulder, Ant Man (Scott Lang). And finally Captain America.

"What the-?" The pseudo vampire said in surprise. "What are the Avengers doing here?"

"We practically live here, pipsqueak," Tony (who sounded oddly like Robert Downey Jr.) said, stepping forward and raising his hand. "Aaaand you didn't get an invitation from the looks of things." He charges up his thermal shooters, aiming directly at the boy, only for him to vanish in a cloud of smoke.

"What the hell?" Hawkeye questioned in confusion.

"This is the doing of my brother Loki!" Thor barked, raising his hammer. "That scoundrel he-"

"That isn't Loki, your brother is too smart to run away." Natasha said, pulling his hammer hand down. "He'd try to blend in."

"Then what did he just do?" Tony asked as he scanned his surroundings. Right at that moment, Gavin appeared behind him.

"Bazinga." The boy said before he did a powerful palm strike to the man's back. The jarheaded scientist grunted as he was sent flying into a wall. Black Widow threw a punch at him but the boy just blocked it before he kicked her back.

Thor was next, who struck with his hammer, only to be blocked by Bloodfallen as Gavin pulled it out of its sheath using his smoke-telekinesis move.

"How can a blade like this be strong enough to block my hammer?!" The Norse Avenger asked in disbelief.

"Because it's made out of Adamantium, false god." The boy hissed before he slashed at the god of thunder and jumped back. "Not that this hasn't been fun guys, but I gotta Vendetta to settle so, later." With that he turned to smoke and snuck into the helicarrier's air vents, it was time to get what he came for.

As soon as he arrived at the ship's mainframe, he immediately pulled out a disc from his duffel bag. "Let's do dis like Buddhist." He smirked as he inserted the disc into the main slot and started downloading all the needed data. "Oooh snap, yeah!" He smiled as the disc Arcade gave him did its thing. "Awww yeah, come to papa." He smiled as the info finished downloading and allowed him to take the disc.

After that he started to head back to the exit, but he was seemingly cut off by Hawkeye and Black Widow.

"Oh for the love of- Will you guys knock it off?" The pseudo vampire groaned as Hawkeye pointed his bow at him.

"Make this easy on yourself and surrender." The archer ordered.

"First off: Fuck you. And second off: You do realize that if you stop me from taking HYDRA down, you're basically letting them do whatever they want to mutants like me, right?" The boy asked. "Things that are but are not limited to: Torture, butchery, being forced to live in cages, rape, psychological torment, brainwashing, being forced to fight fellow mutants to the death, and being turned into breeding stock. Oh, and I also heard that they use the corpses to feed the prisoners."

As he listed off what HYDRA had done, the two Avengers in front of him began looking more disturbed with each one. The one about corpses being used to feed the prisoners was the one that really hit home, and reminded them of HYDRA's Nazi heritage.

"And how exactly do you plan on taking them down?" Widow questioned.

"Well I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Gavin told her.

"You say that like you'd actually go through with it." Hawkeye noted, his bow lowered.

"Guess you'll never know." The boy shrugged before he whipped out his pistols and shot at them, not aiming to hit, but distract, luckily it worked and he was able to disappear into the air vents again. The two Avengers cursed before they darted off to try and find him again.

Once he exited the vents, he found that he was in the cargo hold, and that the two Avengers waiting for him were Hulk and Thor.

"... I don't suppose I could politely ask you to let me leave, could I?" He asked.

Hulk cracked his knuckles and popped his neck from side to side, grinning. Thor twirled his hammer and developed a smirk of his own.

"No, I don't think so. Hulk?" The god of thunder asked his large green friend, causing Gavin to note that he didn't just _look _like Chris Hemingsworth, he actually talked like him too.

"Hulk smash smokey bat!" The green beast growled before he charged forward.

"Alright, you wanna play with a _real _god? Fine, let's _play_!" Gavin yelled as he charged and caught both of Hulk's fists, causing a pair of shockwaves to occur as the two men's arms shook as they pushed against each other.

The two muscle freaks growled as they tried to overpower one another while they glared into each other's eyes. Suddenly, Gavin turned into smoke, causing the gamma giant to stumble from the sudden lack of support.

Next, the pseudo vampire jumped on the giant man's back and with a loud hiss, he sunk his fangs into the back of Hulk's neck, slowly draining his vitality. Hulk groaned as he tried to stay upright, but couldn't thanks to his vitality being stolen. Slowly, but surely, he began to revert back to Bruce Banner. Once the pseudo vampire's work was done, he released the unconscious scientist from his maw and turned to Thor, who had a shocked look on his face.

"And before you ask, no I'm not an actual vampire. I'm just a mutant." The boy said as he straightened up and turned back to the unconscious Bruce. "_Wow, _Bobby was right. He really _does _look like Mark Ruffalo."

"What do you intend to do with that disc in your hand, boy?" Thor questioned, hammer at the ready.

"Simple: Kill HYDRA." Gavin said as he dodged Mjolnir as it flew by him, but was knocked into a wall as a tiny man turned big again after jumping off the hammer and punching him in the jaw.

The sword using teenager grunted as he staggered slightly before he regained his bearings and glared at Ant Man. "Seriously? That's the attack method you're going with?" He questioned.

"Eh, just something I came up with on the fly." Scott Lang shrugged as he hopped in place in a manner similar to a boxer.

Gavin sighed as he got Bloodfallen in the air with his smoke-telekinesis. Raising a finger up he started moving it around like a mistro would, making the sword attack on its own.

Ant Man was able to dodge most of the attacks, but due to how proficient Gavin was at this technique due to him constantly training with it for countless hours, he wasn't able to dodge all of them and ended up getting cut twice, once on his left arm and once on his side.

Thor was the next to attack, and just like before, Gavin stopped the god's legendary hammer with his sword, causing sparks to fly from the clash.

"An Omega level mutant vs an Actual Norse god, this should be interesting." Gavin smirked.

"Then let's see what the outcome will be." Thor agreed before recalling Mjolnir and charging forward.

As the two clashed, Thor got in a solid blow to the boy's head, causing it to spin completely around and make him stumble before falling over, presumably dead.

But what little worry the man had was dashed when the pseudo vampire got up and snapped his head back into place before shaking his head to clear it and blinking several times. "Well… That was different." He mused.

"What in the name of Asgard are you?" The blonde asked in shock.

Gavin smirked as he moved quickly and got behind him while reeling his arm back. "Your worst nightmare." He said before punching the man between the eyes and sending him crashing through a wall and disappearing into the vents again.

Once he was out he was finally on the main deck again, but now he had Captain America, Iron Man and Fury in his way.

"Gavin, look, I want HYDRA to burn and be nothing more than an immensely unpleasant memory as much as the next guy, but do you really believe that this is the way to go about it?" Nick asked with a sigh.

"Without a doubt." The boy said while stepping forward before Iron Man rose his hand, his repulser igniting. "That didn't exactly work before. What makes you think it will now?" He questioned the CEO.

"Mainly because I reconfigured it to track the molecular structure of your smoke ability." The man stated. His answer caused Gavin to blink owlishly for a moment.

"... Okay, I'll give you that one." The sword user conceded. He was actually a little impressed at how fast Tony was able to adapt.

Captain America then decided to step in. "Hold it, Tony. This kid saved my life, and I don't think we should be spitting in his face by pointing lasers at him." The super soldier said.

"Speaking of Cap." Gavin piped up. "I do believe that would mean you owe me a few favors, wouldn't it? See, I'm new to that kinda thing, it's not really my style." He added.

The First Avenger looked at him before he sighed. "Yeah, I guess it really does mean I owe you for that." He replied.

"Well then how about this? You guys let me go, and in exchange I'll let you take all the credit after I destroy HYDRA. And then we'll call it even… For now at least." The boy offered.

The trio looked at each other silently, having a mental discussion. They remained like this for just under a minute before they turned back to him.

"Alright, fine. Just make sure you stay safe out there, okay?" The SHIELD director finally replied. "Your mom will chew my head off if I let you get yourself hurt."

"Oh please, like they'd be able to hurt me." The boy laughed as he walked towards the edge of the ship. "Well, it was fun guys, but I got a schedule to keep so, later!" He said before he leaned backwards and dropped off the helicarrier. "BONZAIIIII!" He yelled as he dropped.

Fury, Steve and Tony collectively sighed tiredly. They knew the kid would be something else, but he freaking planned it out from the beginning! The eyepatch wearing man silently hoped Amanda didn't find out about this somehow.

"Now what?" Steve asked.

"I'm going to make a call." Fury said as he dialed his phone. "Deputy Director Maria Hill, this is Director Fury. I need you to get me Agents Omni and Cthulhu, _now._"

"_Roger that, Director Fury. I'll send them your way." _The Deputy Director replied.

(Elsewhere)

Back at the Institute, everyone woke up the next morning to find Gavin was missing, which prompted everyone to immediately start going into panic mode.

"Where the hell did he go?!" Lance shouted amongst the panic.

"Ah don't know!" Rogue replied frantically.

"Gavin? Are you in here?" Kurt called as he peered into the boy's coffin. "No, he's not here."

"Uh, guys?" Kitty called nervously. "I think you better take a look at this." She was holding a large cardboard billboard with pictures, pins and strings all over it.

"Why does he have a forensics board?" Jean wondered. "Wait… It's not a forensics board, it's a hit list of targets and connections!" She said in realization and alarm.

"Who are the people he's targeting?" Scott questioned.

"If I had to guess, they're members of HYDRA." Devin said. The kids then brought their findings to the instructors, including a small journal Gavin kept to track his training progress, and also mentioned that there was a second one that had his plan written down in detail hidden somewhere in his room.

Xavier looked at everything in surprise. "He's… Planned this thoroughly. From these notes I can conclude that he's been working on this 'Vampyr's Vendetta' for weeks, if not _months_, right under our noses."

"Should we go after him?" Evan asked, only for the headmaster to shake his head.

"No. Not only do we not know where he is at the moment, we would more than likely be subdued before he makes his getaway." He replied before he sighed. "As much as I hate to say it, he's out of our reach for the time being." He added tiredly.

"... At least try to keep track of his movements through Cerebro." Devin sighed in defeat.

Chelsea, meanwhile, was absolutely furious. Her nostrils flared as smoke billowed out while she tore one of the many notebooks they found in half, her eyes turning draconic and her scales and teeth started to show.

"I told him not to fucking go, and what does he do?! The exact fucking opposite!" She growled angrily.

"Wait, you _knew_?! Why didn't you say anything?!" Rogue snapped at her angrily.

"I tried to _dissuade _him from going, but he would _not _listen! He just wouldn't let it fucking go!" She snapped back before she punched the wall. She then sighed as her dragon features receded and tears started to flow. "My biggest regret right now is not putting up more of a fight." She said quietly.

Logan and her two friends started to comfort her as Devin sighed. "True to form, Gavin truly _can't _let go of a grudge." He then looked at the journal marking the progression of his brother's power boost. "And judging by how much his power has increased? I'd say it's safe to wager that all _hell_ is going to break loose."

"Just how much has his power increased?" Ororo asked.

"Based on his estimates? Well over a thousand fold." The metal mutant explained. "He's increased every level to where they're as strong as the previous higher level. And level zero… He left it ambiguous."

Everyone sat or stood where they were in silence as they digested the information. Every one of his power levels was as strong as the previous one, and the final one is ambiguous? That sent a slight chill down their spines.

(Elsewhere)

Back in Fury's office, he sat in his chair and across from him were two agents dressed in typical SHIELD attire. One was a man, the other a young woman.

The man was twenty years old. He stood at 6'4" and had an angular face with forest green eyes and black hair with green streaks (from using too much hair gel). His body was extremely well toned from years of constant training from his parents, with a six pack and a runner's build to prove it. His uniform did nothing to hide his physique. This is Johan Sever, or Agent Omni, as he's called in SHIELD.

The woman was around eighteen and she was slightly shorter than the man at 5'9". She had brown hair and had silver-blue eyes, and had a hourglass figure with a heart shaped ass, a slim waist and semi wide hips, toned legs and thighs as well as slender and well built arms, and lastly a set of DD-cup breasts underneath her uniform, which hugged her body like a second skin. She got her figure from training alongside the man next to her under their parents. This is Katerina Sever, or Agent Cthulhu, as she goes by among her SHIELD peers and Johan's little sister.

"Alright you two, I called you here because I have a top priority mission for you." Fury stated.

"What's the mission?" Johan asked, his voice a deep baritone.

The man then pulled out a picture of Gavin in his current costume from the security footage. "This is Gavin Shirakumo, his code name is Vampyr, he's an Omega Level Mutant who is currently engaged in a one man war against our enemy No. 1 HYDRA."

"I'm sorry, did you just say that a kid who looks younger than me is fighting Hitler's dark legacy on his own?" Katerina asked, her voice deep, yet had a silky smoothness to it.

"I did." Their superior nodded. "He infiltrated the helicarrier, fought the Avengers, and managed to get away with information of where HYDRA'S bases are located along with several HVTs (high value targets) in the process." He explained.

"Do you want us to bring him in?" The green streaked man asked, only for Fury to shake his head.

"No, that'll only get you two killed. I'm sending you two to support him. I don't have complete faith in him, so I'd feel a bit more at ease if you two were helping him out." He replied.

The two siblings chuckled a bit. They were getting a shot at helping take HYDRA down? There was no way they were going to reject this opportunity.

"So we finally get to take a shot at those fucks? About time." Katerina said with a smirk.

"He was last seen heading towards an airport near DC." The man told them. "You should try heading him off there."

"Right." The two nodded.

(Later)

Gavin was walking down the streets of Washington DC towards its local airport, when he suddenly heard a woman scream several meters away. He immediately slipped on a black half mask over his mouth and rushed in its direction and found three men who had a woman cornered.

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of you." One of the degenerates said with a leer.

"No, please, don't." The woman croaked 'nervously'.

"I do believe that's enough, you three." Gavin spoke up, causing the men to turn to him.

"Who the hell are-" The first said before he was cut off by Gavin stabbing him in the stomach.

"I don't think I permitted you to speak." He growled before he cleaned his blade of the man's blood before turning to the other two.

The two men tried to shoot at him with their guns, but Gavin was too fast, moving like a blur he took off the second one's hand and then cut the others pants off. Grasping the third by the throat he looked him in the eye.

"W-What are you gonna do?" The degenerate asked fearfully.

"Spare the rod." Gavin said be knocking him out with the butt of his sword. He then turned to the last one, who was clutching his stump in pain. Picking him up in a similar fashion, he then sank his fangs into the man's neck and clamped down, which suddenly forced the man's soul to fly out. He then inhaled and caused the soul to fly down his awaiting maw. When he swallowed the man's soul, he shuddered in disgust.

"Okay, note to self: Rapist souls taste like shit." He said to himself. The woman he just saved, meanwhile, looked at him in shock and sligh amazement. Though when he mentioned the flavor of souls, she became a bit weirded out.

'_This is a bit weirder than I would've liked.' _ Katerina thought.

Gavin then turned to her and sheathed his sword. "I can assure you, I mean you no harm." He told her reassuringly.

"I can tell by the way you took out those degenerates. Did you have to take what I assume was the soul of one of them, though?" She replied before asking a question.

The boy just shrugged. "Who are you anyway?" The woman asked.

"Who. Who is but the form, following the function of what. And what I am is a man in a mask." The boy told her, smirking under his mask.

"Well I can see that." Katerina said.

"Of course you can. I'm not doubting your powers of observation, I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man, who he is." Gavin told her.

"Oh. Right." She nodded, getting up.

"But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lou of the more commonplace sobriquet, to suggest the _character _of this dramatist persona?" He stated. After a moment of silence he opened his arms. "Viola! In view a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and villain by vicissitudes of fate." He stated while gesturing to himself. "But this visage, no veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi now vacant, vanished. Now this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands _vilified _and has vowed to vanquish these venial and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the vicious voracious violation of volition!"

He yelled this as he drew his sword and slashed a V into a poster of the newest blockbuster 'Jurassic Park' that was hanging on the wall before sheathing it again, panting. "The only verdict is vengeance, a _Vendetta_, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such will soon one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous." He then turned to Katerina who seemed utterly gobsmacked by his use of vocabulary in his monologue. He then let out a giggle before continuing. "Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

"... Right." Katerina said dumbly '_I've never heard the letter V get used in rapid succession like that in my entire life.' _She thought, feeling a little amazed. "Are you like a crazy person?" She asked.

"I'm sure they will say so." He told her before the sound of footsteps could be heard. Gavin turned around and saw a man in SHIELD attire standing there.

"Good work sis, we found him." The man said to Katerina before turning back to Gavin. "You must be Vampyr, I'm agent Omni of SHIELD, and that's my sister Agent Cthulhu."

Gavin raised an eyebrow before he turned back to the woman, who had discarded her trench coat, revealing her SHIELD uniform underneath. "As much as I'd rather leave right now, I must ask: Why is your codename Cthulhu?" He asked curiously.

"I can induce insanity and reform a person's mind from said insanity, as well as turn into this." She said before she transformed into a green skinned form with tentacles for hair, silver iris and pupiless eyes, a pair of wings, plump green lips, and now her figure was even sexier than before and gave her a H-cup rack as well as a bubble shaped ass. It also made her six foot four inch height increase to an impossible ten feet seven inch tall stature.

Gavin looked at her with wide, amazed eyes. "I am a fan of all things horror, and the fact that you're a genderbent version of HP Lovecraft's most notorious creature makes me very happy." He said, his voice carrying a touch of happiness in it, making her smile at his words. He then looked at Johan. "What can you do?" He asked.

"I have an adamantium skeleton, which I got by choice, I've got nanotech flowing throughout my body, and I have a chip in my brain that let's me shut down my pain receptors. Other than that, I'm the normal one out of the two of us." The green eyed man explained with a shrug as his sister turned back to normal.

'_Okay this guy could be useful, her too…' _The pseudo vampire thought. "Okay, but why are you guys here?" He asked.

"Fury wants us to help you out with the destruction of HYDRA. Since we don't like Hitler or his butt buddies either, we couldn't say no." Katerina replied with a shrug.

"The other reason is probably because he's scared of your mom wringing his neck." Johan joked with a smirk. "Oh, and by the way, our real names are Johan and Katerina Sever, it's nice to meet you."

"Gavin shirakumo." Gavin said, shaking his hand. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be the same Johan who my friend Bast was telling me about, would you?" He asked curiously.

"She told you about me?" The man asked in surprise, confirming Gavin's thoughts.

"Yeah, did she tell you that she was a mutant with cat powers who was captured by HYDRA?" Gavin asked.

"She's a cat mutant? … She was captured by HYDRA?!" He asked, the second question having an angry, protective growl in it. "One more reason to slaughter those pigs!" He growled.

"Good, now." Gavin then got his duffel bag and pulled out his laptop. After looking through the files, he found the base he was looking for: Department H-1, Mutant weapon's branch, Rio de janeiro, Brazil. "Alright you two, pack your bags, we're going to Brazil."

"Aw yeah, I've been itching to go to Brazil for ages!" Katerina cheered with a smile.

"Any HVTs there?" Johan asked.

"Just one, and that's this little shit stain." The pseudo vampire said as an image of a Chinese boy with orange eyes that looked like embers and his hair styled like Ivan Drago from Rocky popped up. "His name is Kuo Shang-Tsun, codename Mindfrayer, and he's number two on my top priority kill list."

"Who's number one?" The sole girl of the trio asked.

Gavin typed and then an image of Rowner appeared. "Victor Rowner, the head scientist of the Mutant Weapon's division. I have a very _specific _punishment for him before I bring him to my friends alive so they can kill him themselves."

"Well then, let's get moving, shall we?" Johan said, getting a nod from the others as they went to the airport.

(Elsewhere)

At the Institute, Xavier was at Cerebro and had just picked up Gavin's signature, as well as an unknown one.

"There you are, Gavin, and you've found a new friend it would seem." He said to himself. "Though, why are you going to Brazil, I wonder?"

With the three man army, they were currently lifting off in a private jet that Johan helped rent. They were headed south, straight for Rio, the first stop, on Vampyr's Vendetta…

**Dragon Emperor0: And with that, the first chapter of the arc is done. Anyone recognize any of the references we put in?**

**ThermalsniperN7: If you guys don't get them, I will be confused. Anyway, let's give a warm welcome to Johan and Katerina Sever!**

**Dragon Emperor0: All credit of their creation goes to ThermalsniperN7, they are his glorious creations after all. Also guys be on the lookout for two more characters from Dragon X next chapter. They're very important.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Anyway, with all this said and done, be sure to join us next chapter for a huge bout of fighting and the complete, utter destruction of the sanity of various people.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Later! Also from here on out, this story will be rated M for mature audiences.**


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37: A Card Game in Rio.**

Gavin and Johan were currently in the seat room of a private jet that the latter managed to snag by pulling some strings. They were headed to Brazil, and Gavin was relaxing in his seat with his legs crossed and a glass of grape sparkler which had been set in a wine barrel to give it the taste of a really good Pinot Noir. All the while Johan was reading the newspaper and 'I Know You Want Me' by Pitbull was playing.

"So, where's my lil' sis?" The older man asked as he flipped a page.

"Oh, you know, she's downstairs." Gavin replied casually sipping his drink.

"Isn't that the cargo hold?" Johan asked with a raised eyebrow.

In the cargo hold, Katerina had somehow been stuffed in a box that, thankfully, had air holes in it.

"I have a fear of flying, coffins and tight places!" She whined as they flew.

Once they reached Rio, the plane flew past the famous Christ's Embrace statue. "Jesus wants a huuuug!" Gavin called as they flew by it.

After a while, they reached their intended hotel, the Sever siblings having changed into civilian clothing to avoid drawing attention. Gavin, meanwhile, seemingly preferred to keep his cloak on. Right now, they were busy checking in.

"We have a three bedroom, three bath room on the fifth floor available if you'd like to check in there." The receptionist said, who was a boy barely into his twenties.

"No, we'd like the penthouse." Gavin stated.

"But, Mr. Chevy Chase has that room reserved for his trip in two weeks." The man said.

"Heh, that's cute." Katerina smirked before she broke his mind down and rebuilt it to make him do and agree with whatever she says. "You want to give us the penthouse." She said hypnotically.

"I want to give you the penthouse." The receptionist said in a trance-like voice.

"You want to kick Chevy Chase out because he's an asshole." She continued.

"I want to kick Chevy Chase out because he's an asshole." He repeated.

"See, Gavin, this is the beauty of being me: I can make people into my slaves if I wish it and make them agree with anything I say if I want." The eldritch themed girl boasted.

"Like what? Give him the subconscious desire to want to sleep with you and be your obedient pet the whole time?" Gavin questioned.

"She did that once… I punished her for it." Johan inputted as he sent his sister a 'look'.

"It was worth it. Five men at once. Best. Fuck. Ever!" The woman sighed blissfully as they were led to their room. Johan just sighed at his sister's occasional perverted tendencies. Once they got there, they decided to chill for a bit.

Unbeknownst to them, someone was spying on them from behind some pillars. "This is alpha team captain, tell Alhambra that the Three Monsters have checked in, I repeat, the three monsters have checked in! Also, I'm picking the goddamn nicknames next time!" He hissed before he heard the door open and retreated behind the pillars.

"So, wanna go bar hopping with me so we can go scouting for intel?" Johan asked as he stood outside the room with Gavin at the other side of the door.

"No. Last time I did that, I ended up finding out I had a secret son nine months later." The boy told him.

"... Should I have my sister drive the mother insane?" He offered after a moment.

"Nah, I already got something in mind for her." Gavin said before closing the door. A moment later, he opened it again. "And before I forget, tell that douche behind the pillars to quit spying on me. It's awkward." He added, causing the spy to curse before running away.

"Will do." He nodded.

(Later)

At the Institute and a bar in Brazil, both the X-men and other residents, as well as Johan were watching a News report of a shooting that was happening at the hotel Gavin and Katerina were in right now.

"_Shots have been fired at this hotel, currently the police are trying to detain the terrorists inside, which is a German-American girl and some Japanese Ozzy Osborn looking motherfucker doing a cosplay of Pain from Naruto." _The reporter at the scene stated.

At the bar Johan was drinking at, he immediately spat out his drink at the TV in shock, getting everyone in the bar to look at him. Meanwhile, Chelsea was currently trying to get Gavin on the phone.

"Get him on the phone, I want him on the fucking phone!" She ordered Devin, who was scrambling to get his brother on the line.

Gavin suddenly heard his phone ring as he was talking to Katerina. "Hold on, I gotta take this." He said as he picked It up. "Yeh-llo?" He asked.

"_What did you do?"_ The agitated dragoness questioned.

"Alright." He confessed. "But you can't be mad at me." He added after a beat passed.

"_What. Did you do?_" She snapped again.

"Alright. First off: I was minding my own business." He told his older sister figure simply.

"_BULLSHIT_!" The blondie yelled as she slammed her hand on the table.

"I WAS!" The pseudo vampire whined.

"_And what exactly were you doing whilst you were, 'minding your own business'?"_ Chelsea asked sarcastically.

"Well, first off I was chillaxing in my room like a baller. And then these schmucks kicked down my door." Gavin began as he recalled how things got to where they are now. "Then one of them said-"

(Flashback)

"Get on your knees!" A SWAT officer ordered.

(Flashback switch)

"And I responded with-"

(Flashback)

"I'M NOT YOUR MOTHER LAST NIGHT!" Gavin yelled at them.

(Flashback switch)

"Aaaand they took exception to that." He said casually with a grin.

(Flashback)

The SWAT team gunned down Gavin to the point he's swiss cheese.

"_But you know how that song and dance goes." He added._

Gavin heals from his wounds and decimates the majority of the SWAT team.

(Flashback switch)

"And I killed all but one of 'em." He finished with a grin.

"_What happened to the last one?"_ The blonde asked after a moment of hesitation.

(Flashback)

The last SWAT officer whimpered pathetically before he aimed his pistol at his head and took his own life, Gavin's grin not even wavering.

(Flashback end)

"Pussed out like a _bitch!"_ He replied in an amused tone.

"It's true ma'am, I was there the entire time. The SWAT team didn't exactly give us much of a choice." Katerina piped up.

"_... Gavin, who is that?" _Chelsea asked after a moment, having expected her little brother figure to be alone.

"That's Katerina Sever, she's the little sister of Bast's friend Johan. They're both SHIELD agents and are helping me with this." Gavin explained. "Her code name is Cthulhu, she's… Basically a female mutant version of Cthulhu." He added.

"_Seriously? Well... Shit. I actually didn't expect any of that."_ Chelsea managed to say, feeling a little surprised that Bast's friend was not only helping Gavin, but his mutant little sister was on the bandwagon, too. "_Would you mind putting her on the phone, please?" _She asked.

"Really? You're just gonna-Okay, alright, fine. I know when I'm not wanted." The pseudo vampire huffed indignantly before he handed the phone to Katerina before walking out the room while singing an opera tune.

"_Katerina, listen. Whatever you do, do __**not **__let Gavin leave that room under any circumstances." _She ordered the insanity inducer.

"Um… Too late for that, he just left and I think I heard him say something about going for a walk." The girl said awkwardly, much to Chelsea's comical horror.

"_NOOOOO!" _Chelsea yelled as she shot up.

Meanwhile, Gavin was walking down the hallway as several SWAT officers were standing there nervously as the tune of 'A Foot Caught in a Sensual Seduction' played over the hotel speakers.

"Hey guys, how's your health plan?" He asked the SWAT team casually. They then started yelling and firing, prompting the boy to retaliate by pulling out his guns and started shooting. "APPARENTLY IT'S GREAT!" He yelled enthusiastically as bullets and laser rounds flew. As soon as they were all dead, the boy made his way toward the elevator, where a bunch of SWAT officers looked at him in fear.

Immediately he started shooting back at them and tore them to pieces with his sword and fangs as they formed a bloody pile at the back as he went to the first floor.

Meanwhile, at the Institute, everyone was trying to sort out their reactions to the situation. Chelsea had her hands on her forehead in irritation.

"Devin, be honest with me: How much are we looking at in terms of collateral?" She asked tiredly.

"In short…" He trailed off as he looked at the TV before turning back to her. "... The Vampyr amount." He replied gravely, causing her to slump over.

Gavin stepped out to the front of the hotel as two men flew up onto flagpoles, getting skewered in the process. That was when a portchegues man in a brown suit and fedora came stepping up.

"Well, if I'd known you would've done this, I would have gotten some union jacks for you." The man said, making Gavin notice that he had HYDRA styled metal playing cards on his person.

"You set all this up for me? You shouldn't have!" Gavin said in a 'flattered' tone.

"Yes, I am Tubalcain Alhambra, or The Dandyman." He introduced himself with a bow. "I may or may not have fed a lie to the local Policia that in exchange for your capture, I would give them immortality."

"And they fuckin' bought that shit?!" The pseudo vampire asked incredulously.

"Like discount bargain." The card man replied with a grin.

"You cheeky dick waffle!" Gavin said with a grin of his own. "So what's all this about? HYDRA not happy we're here?"

"Oh no, I simply wish to play a card game with you, Vampiro." Dandyman told him, holding up a card.

"What game are we talkin' here, 52 pickup?" The younger boy questioned.

"No, more like 52 _CUTUP!" _He replied before sending some cards at Gavin.

"Yoink!" The pseudo vampire yelped as he jumped away and turned over in midair.

"We'll at least he's just dodging, this time." Jean said nervously as the X-men watched the broadcast. Then they watched as he willed Bloodfallen to slice up people who got in the way.

"Oi, that was on purpose!" Chelsea exclaimed as she watched the feed.

Then Gavin landed in a crouch before Alahambra snapped his fingers. "You activated my trap card!" He said as a circle of the metal cards appeared around him.

"Oh boy!" Was all Gavin said before the cards exploded. Dandyman chuckled at his handiwork with a smirk before…

"Hey Dandy Dick!" A familiar voice called, causing his smirk to disappear as he turned around and saw Gavin somehow standing on the side of the hotel. "... You missed!" He said cheekily before running up the side of the building while making the curly 'woop woop woop'.

At the police encampment, a few officials were going over what to do with their immortality that they wouldn't get.

"So, what are you going to do with your immortality?" One asked.

"Not much." Another shrugged.

"Do you think Alhumbra can take this kid?" A third asked.

"Calm down man, all I'm focused on is what I'm gonna do with my immortality." The second shrugged, none of them noticing someone in a Policia uniform entering the tent.

"Jokes on you, I'm getting double immortality." The third shot back before he was literally shot in the head, causing the second guy to whirl around and get shot for his troubles.

The man with the gun kept shooting while counting, then he placed a grenade in it and walked out while humming the American national anthem. He then took off his mask and, surprise surprise, it was Johan dealing with the pawns. He then took out a flask of Irish coffee and took a small swig, not even reacting as his grenade finally went off, causing the other officers to panic as they rushed to contain the fire.

The SHIELD Agent smirked as he decided his next move. "Now, let's deal with those cameras so my sister can come out and play." He said as he sent his nanotech to disrupt the cameras.

Meanwhile with Dandyman and Gavin, the pseudo vampire now laid on the ground, bleeding. "I'm not used to seeing so much of my own blood anymore… He's got some Carbonadium cards, and some magic hands." He said while looking back at Dandyman.

"So, Vampyr, are you a betting man?" Alahambra asked.

"Nah, that's not my schtick. I'm pretty sure that's your's." He replied.

"I'd like to make a bet with you _vagabondo_. I'll end your life, with one hand." The man said, holding up a ten of spades.

"I'll take that bet." Gavin decided as he got up and took a stance. "Now hit me with your best shot!" He shouted at him. Smoke flowing from him.

Dandyman started throwing his cards and they seemed not to affect the boy as he released his first level seal. "Oh what a shame for you, you activated my _Alucard_." He smirked.

That's when Katerina appeared and started shooting at Dandyman with a rifle… While holding it with one hand.

"GET SOOOOOOOOOOOME!" She yelled fiercely as the card thrower somehow managed to deflect the shots before she decided to take a different approach. Discarding the rifle, she concentrated her eldritch energy in her right hand.

"Trump _this!" _She yelled as she opened up a portal above him and a blast of energy shot towards him. Acting fast, he threw a card at the blast and made it split in two, making it splash on either side of him harmlessly while kicking up some dust.

"I'm getting real tired of this shit!" Alhambra growled.

"You and me both!" Gavin growled as he appeared behind him and stabbed him in the right shoulder with Bloodfallen before reeling his arm back. "Now show me your hand, _DANDYMAN!_" The pseudo vampire yelled as his arm bulged and his muscles tensed as he struck down with a knife hand strike and Dandyman retaliated with thrusting his arm forward with a card, but after the two clashed for five seconds, Gavin's hand sliced through the card and the gambler's arm like it was nothing.

The man screamed in pain from having his arm split right down the middle before Gavin grabbed his head and looked him in the eyes.

"Dandyman, you lost the bet." The boy said as he held him by the face. He got a mumbled yes from the man. "And now I have to read your mind." A confused sound. "By drinking all of your soul." He added. "Om nom nom!" He said as he sunk his fangs into the man's neck, sucking out his soul. Then his eyes widened as odd images appeared. "The fuck is this? The fuck is that? THE FUCK ARE THOSE?!" The boy said before he saw it, images of all the people he was after, and where they were.

He then exited the image before he started laughing and clapping over what he had learned while his target's body fell to the ground, lifeless..

"Um… Gavin?" Katerina inquired in a weirded out tone.

"She said my plan wouldn't work, but lo and behold. It. Is. _Working_!" He laughed as he looked at her. "I know exactly where Mindfrayer is, and the location of the H-1 base."

"Alright. One step closer to giving HYDRA more than a black eye." The younger Sever sibling smirked.

"_Sis, it's Omni." _Johan called over their comms.

"Cthulhu here, go ahead bro." She replied as she held a finger to her earpiece.

"_I just_ _sabotaged all the cameras and destroyed the footage. I need you to drive every witness here insane to cover our tracks." _He requested.

"Got it." She nodded. With that, she assumed her Cthulhu form and grew to a truly massive size before she used her powers to drive everyone (save Johan and Gavin) insane.

(Later)

The trio was now in the Amazon Jungle in a jeep heading for the HYDRA base located within it. Their target: The Mindflayer.

"Now remember guys, what we want is to destroy the base, kill everyone who gets in our way, release every captured mutant, and capture a couple people to interrogate and download any other info." Gavin listed off.

"Not in that particular order?" Johan asked as he drove them to their destination.

"Yeah. But leave Mindfrayer for me. I planned out his demise _very _thoroughly." The pseudo vampire said as they came up on the base.

"Mind if I add some extra insanity, if that's what you have planned?" Katerina offered.

"Oh it is." He nodded. As they got out of the Jeep, Johan took out his gun (a SCAR rifle) and Gavin drew Bloodfallen while Katerina turned into her Cthulhu form. "Ready?" The boy asked, getting nods in reply. "Alright, go!"

With that, they charged, killing the guards and busting down the door as soldiers and scientists looked at them in shock and confusion.

"What the-" One of the soldiers tried to say before Johan shot him in the head.

"DIE NAZIS, DIE!" Gavin yelled as he started charging at them, killing everyone within reach and eating soul after soul.

Johan shot three soldiers in their manhoods, causing them to squeal in agonizing pain as they fell to their knees. The green streaked man just looked at them coldly. "May god have mercy on your souls." He said before killing them.

Katerina, meanwhile, created pools of icky bile which caused the soldiers and scientists in them to go rabid and attack their comrades. "Fall into the abyss." She said coldly as she watched them tear each other apart.

After the first level was clear, they then split up and slaughtered everyone on each level, released the imprisoned mutants and stole critical info. As they led the now free escapees, they were suddenly blocked by three people. One was Mindfrayer, the second was a Latin American boy with tan skin and longish wavy dark brown hair just coming down to his shoulders. He once had brown eyes, but they became a murky light grey (kinda like Mystique's in S1) after his powers developed. He's tall, about 5' 11" and but like a long-distance runner. And the third was a Italian American, having tan olive skin and dark brown hair, he had eyes the color of fourteen karat gold and were like a Dragon's.

"That's Mindfrayer." Gavin growled. "And those other two are without a doubt Marcus and Romano, Chelsea and Bast's friends." He then took note that their eyes were glazed, and Marcus had several vials all over his body pumping some sort of chemical into him. "Oh great, Marcus is being fed his addiction 24/7." He groaned sarcastically.

"I'll deal with him. You just worry about that deranged little telepathic brat." Johan said as he brought out his combat knife.

"I'll handle Romano. I might be able to undo his brainwashing." Katerina chimed as eldritch energy started crackling around her hands.

Gavin smirked as he cracked his knuckles. "Hey Mindfrayer!" He called as the telepath looked at him. "You like going into people's heads, right? Well let's see if you can handle _mine!_" He growled as the six of them charged.

"With pleasure." Kuo replied as both clashed as the Chinese telepath immediately started going into Gavin's mind, but instead of fighting it, the pseudo vampire instead _intentionally_ let him in. That was when hell began for the half pint telepath.

(Gavin's Mind)

Kuo stood in front of the four leveled gates and as he tried to access Gavin's experiences to torture him, he was instead met by all the gates opening and smoke tendrils lashing out and grabbing his arms, legs and neck before pulling him inwards.

"No, no no no no no! You aren't supposed to be able to resist! NOOOO!" He yelled desperately as he clung to Level 3's gate desperately before he was finally dragged into the abyss of the boy's mind. There… He would experience hell.

(Back in reality)

Gavin and Kuo stood still for a few minutes, even as the battle raged around them. Johan was fighting Marcus on even ground while Katerina had long since incapacitated Romano and undid his brainwashing. He was just unconscious right now.

"This guy had a chip in the back of his neck and a tracker, think you can disable it bro?" She called as Johan blocked a wave of Marcus's energy pulses with a nanotech shield.

"Gimme a sec!" He called back before he charged at Marcus and dodged an energy pulse before punching him in the face and giving him a strong chop to the neck, knocking him unconscious. After this, he let his nanotech destroy the viles and his tracker before going into his body and started to detoxify him. As the technology did its thing, he rushed over to the other two.

"Marcus is still gonna need to go to rehab. Even with my nanotech's help, his addiction will still be a problem." The man said as he got to work on Romano, all the while the escapees were getting their trackers removed by the remaining nanotech.

As he worked, his little sister looked at Gavin and Kuo before frowning. '_They've been like that for the past several minutes. Did that little bastard actually manage to break him? If he did, __**I'm **__going to break him!' _She thought angrily, already planning a few Lovecraftian things for Kuo to see.

Right at that moment, Kuo was sent flying back into a wall as Gavin's Level 0 part of his personality _hurled _his mental self back into his body. The telepath's hair was now turned pure white as he shook madly, mumbling incoherent speech as he trembled like a baby.

"So… How does it feel to be the one on the receiving end, you little shit?" Gavin asked, his tone smug and condescending.

"You-you aren't a human, you're a _monster_!" The boy yelled.

"Well there's the pot calling the kettle black." Katerina scoffed.

"Too damn true." Johan nodded.

The Cthulhu-like woman sashayed over to the trembling telepath and took his face in her hands as she forced him to look into her eyes, devoid of everything but their blue-silver cuticles.

"Here 'baby', let me give your mind a _break_." She said before her tentacle hair suddenly started going into his nose, ears, and mouth, and her eyes glowed as she cranked up her insanity powers to the max. Kuo tried to scream, but he was muffled by the tentacles blocking his airways as he saw numerous things that were straight out of the Lovecraftian horror mythos.

Katerina moaned in bliss as she felt the vibrations from his screams send pleasure through her body, it honestly started to make her very wet.

"Oh jeez… Sorry, Gavin. It looks like you won't be able to go through with those plans of yours." Johan groaned as he facepalmed, knowing exactly what was going on.

"As long as she leaves him alive long enough for me to interrogate him before I kill him? I'm fine with whatever she does to him." He shrugged.

"Assuming she doesn't turn him into a vegetable." The green eyed man added.

"So does she get off on that thing she does?" The boy asked as she released Kuo and started squeezing her own breasts out of arousal.

"Yep… Being a Lovecraftian horror monster has made her into a bit of a sadist. She practically preys on the fear of her victims and it arouses her to no end." The older Sever sibling explained. "I… Was unintentionally on the receiving end of that. Thankfully, she regretted it." He added with a blush.

"Makes me wonder what she'd do to a boyfriend if they got in bed with her." Gavin said with a shudder as the two walked over to them while Gavin grabbed Kuo and the siblings grabbed Marcus and Romano.

"I'd show him just how _useful _in bed my tentacles can be." The Cthulhu woman purred.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Ms. Hentai Fantasy." Johan deadpanned as he carried Marcus.

"Party pooper." The woman pouted as she carried Romano before turning back to normal as they got in the Jeep. "Ya know, he is kinda cute… You think your friends will let me nurse him back to health?" She asked, looking at Romano as she buckled up.

"They'd have to trust you for that to actually happen." Gavin replied as they drove off. "With what you're helping out with, they just might let you." He added thoughtfully.

(Later)

Kuo slowly woke up to find that he was in a rusty old car in an abandoned warehouse, his hands chained to the ceiling of the car as he sat in the driver's seat. He looked up from the car he was on and he saw Gavin and the Sever siblings standing in front of it, the pseudo vampire having a hose in his hands.

"Welcome back, you little shit." Katerina sneered disdainfully at him.

"What are you going to do to me?" The boy asked tiredly, unable to really do anything because of the mental fatigue he was feeling.

"Depends on if you give us the information we want." Johan said. "If you tell us the locations of your bosses, HYDRA's informants, and their 'Mutant Scouters', we'll turn you over to SHIELD where you'll live out the rest of your days behind bars. If you don't…" He trailed off as Gavin put the hose in the car's exhaust pipe.

"We'll use this to kill you." Gavin finished.

Kuo's face turned pale, immediately his self preservation instincts overrode any of HYDRA's training as he frantically tried to get free. "Alright! _Alright_! I'll tell you what you want!" He told them.

"Good answer." Johan nodded in satisfaction. The telepath then went into great detail about the locations and names they needed, even spilled the beans on the location of his 'mentor' Victor Rowner without a moment's hesitation.

"Now that I've given you what you want, will you let me go?" He asked hopefully. The two siblings looked at Gavin who just slipped the hose into the car's window, trapping the exhaust fumes inside.

"No." The pseudo vampire stated coldly. "You remember Chelsea Marks? The woman you tortured so gleefully for years? _This _is for her." He said as the little brat tried frantically to escape to no avail. His screams and pleads for mercy fell on deaf ears and slowly silenced as the telepath suffocated and went limp inside the car.

"... Want the evidence to be burned?" Johan asked.

"No, dump it in the ocean." He told them as he started writing things down. "Okay guys, next few stops: Hong Kong, Paris, Baghdad, Rome…" He listed off about five more places before he finished with… "And finally Moscow." He finished.

"Oh, I know _exactly _what song to listen to when we head to Moscow." Katerina chirped with a grin.

"Oh jeez…" Johan said as he rolled his eyes with a smile, knowing full well which song she was referring to.

"Well then, let's get moving." Gavin said as they dumped the car in the ocean and then got on their jet and flew towards their next stop.

**Dragon Emperor0: Now that is you do a transition from T to M. **

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, no kidding. We even had three literal nut shots present!**

**Dragon Emperor0: Next chapter we'll be handing Hong Kong and Rome next. Then after that we'll do the ones in Africa near Wakanda and Australia, and then finally Canada and Moscow.**

**ThermalsniperN7: I know what song they'll be listening to when they head to Moscow. He he he…**

**Dragon Emperor0: Also expect a Hellsing Ultimate: Abridged reference and a Pulp Fiction reference next chapter as well. And also the appearance of a character commonly associated with Deadpool, HYDRA Bob! And of course let's give a warm welcome to Marcus Mussolini (no relation to the actual Mussolini) and Romano Sanchez.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter!**


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38: It's Rush Hour in Hong Kong**

-_Xavier Institute-_

Everyone was still trying to make sense of what the hell they had managed to witness the week before after seeing the national broadcast of what happened between Gavin and the Sever siblings against the SWAT unit and Dandyman. Especially Rogue, who just couldn't wrap her head around why Gavin had seemed to… _Enjoy _all of the bloodshed.

'_It scares me.'_ She thought, not being used to seeing that side of Gavin at all.

Right now, Chelsea and Jean were doing one last training exercise with Amara before she left for her first day of high school. The blonde dragoness was still very pissed about the whole situation with Gavin, which in turn made her very difficult to deal with as of late.

"Now remember, the important thing is to not lose focus." Jean told the Brazilian girl as she held some rocks together for her to melt.

"Yeah because one mistake and we'll all be dead." Chelsea added.

"Not helping." The telepath told her.

Amara began harnessing her power over magma and sent out a wave to melt the rocks into a bridge. Upon finishing and seeing that it was firmly in place, Jean walked onto it and gave it a test.

"Hm, not bad. Just one crack." She noted.

"Then this was a failure." The girl sighed.

"God, stop being such a baby, not everything needs to be perfect. What did your parents raise you to be, a goddamn perfectionist? Just take the compliment!" Chelsea groaned in exasperation.

"Hey Jean, Chelsea? The professor wanted me to come down here and remind you two to not keep Amara for too long or she'll be late for her first day of high school." Scott's voice suddenly called from above.

"Keep your shirt on, we'll be right up!" The blonde called before a boulder suddenly started to come loose. "Ohh shit, Jean!" She yelled in alarm.

"On it!" She replied before she used her powers to catch the boulder. "Okay, we're good." She said before the large piece of earth was suddenly blasted to pieces.

"Gah! What the fuck, Summers?! We had that under control!" The dragoness called up as the dust cleared.

"Sorry, my bad! Acted on impulse!" Was the goggled teen's reply as the women went up. "Oh hey Chelsea, you got this in the mail today, it has a return address in Brazil." The boy told her as he handed her a letter.

Raising an eyebrow, she took the letter out of the envelope and looked at its contents. "Oh my _GOD!_" She nearly yelled as she saw several pictures of a beaten and battered Kuo inside and the final of said telepath chained in a car and dead by asphyxiation. "What the actual _fuck _happened to this little shit?!" She wondered in shock and glee at the sight of her former tormentor being beaten so badly and killed in such a way.

That was when she saw two more photos: One of the destroyed base and the other of the trio with the now fully recovered Romano and Marcus in an airport headed to Cairo, Egypt.

The dragoness teared up in happiness. Two of her friends, ones she thought couldn't be saved, were successfully liberated from HYDRA and were in good health again.

'_Gavin… Be safe.' _She thought as her tears flowed.

(Elsewhere)

_-Hong Kong, China-_

Gavin, Johan, Katerina, Romano and Marcus all departed from their flight from Cairo to Hong Kong after taking down the base in the region. Gavin tossed a golden object before catching it and looking at it again.

The object was a small Egyptian eye shaped artifact made of gold, barely bigger than a typical watch face. "So this is the legendary Eye of Anubis? This is definitely gonna come in handy." Gavin said as he put it in his pocket.

"Just gotta give it a test first before we assume it actually works." Katerina piped up.

"What would HYDRA want with an artifact like that, anyway?" Marcus asked, puffing on a weed cigarette. The former drug addict was trying to combat the lingering effects of his drug addiction with simply smoking and staying off the extremely addictive things. The weed was just to help ease the effects of withdrawal.

"No idea. Then again, we might find something that'll give us an answer sooner or later." Romano said. After he had woken up from being knocked out and realizing he was in control of himself again, he asked who had done it. When Katerina confessed that it was her and how she did it, he thanked her and actually hugged her… Though when he saw her other form, he reacted by hiding behind Johan in surprise, which said man didn't really blame him for.

"Well according to legend, it's supposed to be able to summon the souls of the dead from anywhere the user has previously touched." Johan stated.

"Again, useful. I mean can you imagine the power boost I'd get if I summoned all of the dead souls from all of the bases and ate them? I'd gain power on a cosmic level!" Gavin told them as they exited the airport.

"Don't let it go to your head, _Alucard._" Romano said jokingly, getting chuckles from everyone else.

"So, who's our first target?" Marcus asked.

"You guys won't be doing anything. Technically, this is a SHIELD sanctioned shadow op, so civilians like you two can't assist us for your own safety." Johan told them.

"Except we're not really civvies, though." The former drug addict said with a frown.

"In this case, we might as well be." Romano told his friend with a sigh. "What do we do in the meantime while you guys are busy?" He asked.

"We have a hotel room booked at a nearby hotel here that you guys can stay at for the time being." Katerina explained.

"And in the meantime, I'd suggest calling the Institute to check in on everything. Here's the number." Gavin added, handing Romano the number. "Ask for Bast or Chelsea, they'll fill you in."

"Yeah… About that, how have they been doing?" Marcus asked.

"They've been doing so much better after they arrived, same with Kai." Gavin replied. "The three of them spoke with a counselor I know, a woman named Emma Frost. She's a telepath, and she managed to help get rid of any unpleasant memories and lingering programming in their minds. If you ask them, they'll say that she did one hell of a job." He continued.

"Sounds like we'll need to get an appointment." Marcus stated.

"Agreed." The Latino man nodded.

"Oh, and Chelsea also started dating one of the other instructors there too, his name is Logan. The two make a really good couple, if I'm being honest." The boy added as they checked in the hotel.

"Wait, seriously? She found a man?" The recovering addict got out in surprise.

"Looks like we'll have to meet him. Who knows? We might be able to make friends with him." Romano said with a grin.

"Oh, sorry Marcus, I forgot that you two kinda had a complicated relationship." The pseudo vampire apologized.

"It's fine. We honestly never really acted on any romantic feelings, so I don't blame her for moving on." He shrugged. "I just hope we can clear all the leftover tension later."

With that, the two stayed in the room as the trio left, and Romano dialed the number of the Institute on the phone Johan lent him. After a few seconds, Bast picked up.

"_Hello?"_ She asked.

"Miss me, Bast?" The light wave man greeted with a smirk, and was rewarded with a surprised gasp from the other end.

"_... R-romano? Is that you?" _She asked hopefully.

"The one and only. Marcus is here too." He replied.

"_Seriously?!" _The cat woman asked.

"Yep, hang on a sec. Yo, Marcus! Get over here, Bast is on the phone!" He called out to his friend, prompting him to come over and take the phone.

"Hey Bast. Miss me, you goofy cat?" He asked jokingly, getting a chuckle from Romano.

"_Have I! Oh Kai and Chelsea are gonna flip their lids! Hey, when do you think you'll be getting back?" _Bast questioned.

"According to your friend, Gavin? Two weeks at the most." Romano told her from over Marcus's shoulder.

"_That is the best news I've heard all year! They'll scream in delight when they hear that!"_ The catwoman said excitedly.

"Yeah. We'll see you soon." Both men smiled.

Meanwhile with the trio, Gavin currently had a HYDRA informant by the collar and was dangling him over the edge of a building right above the rush hour freeway below.

"Alright, pal. Here's how this is gonna go: You're gonna tell us where the HYDRA base is here and _maybe_ we'll let you live." The boy said while the Sever siblings stood off to the side.

"Behind bars of course." Johan interjected.

"_I will tell you nothing you filth ridden swine! So you might as well let me go!_" The man said in Chinese.

"Want me to remake his mind?" Katerina offered.

"No, just translate." The boy replied.

"He says he won't say anything so you might as well let him go." Johan translated.

Gavin turned back to the man in his grip before shaking his head. "_Very _poor choice of words." The pseudo vampire said before he released the man, causing him to scream as he fell to the street below and ended up getting creamed on the grill of a semi truck before he even hit the ground.

"Well that blows. How are we gonna find another informant?" The eldritch themed girl wondered.

The horror enthusiast then jabbed a thumb to a nearby corner. "Why not ask our friends there?" He asked, causing the two to see four soldiers behind an AC unit. Judging by how bumbling they were, they were obviously rookies to the whole 'HYDRA' thing.

"This should be easy enough." The green streaked man muttered to his little sister, who nodded in agreement.

(Later)

They now had the soldiers in a room in an abandoned apartment complex and had one on the couch, the other in a chair and the third was in a corner near the door.

"Hey, listen I know this looks bad, but- I- I never got your names." The one in the chair, a guy named Bob, stated before Gavin cut him off.

"My name's Vampyr, and you ain't talking yourself outta this shit." The boy snapped.

"What-What's this about? Is it because we were following you? I mean if that's it we can just leave you alo-" But he was stopped when Gavin used Devil's Scorn to shoot and kill the guy on the couch.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break your concentration? Please. Continue." He said, his voice carrying a mocking tone that was well hidden. Bob was silent for a few seconds before the boy continued. "Oh, you were finished. Well allow me to retort. We aren't after you because you followed us, we're here on business from the Dark Lord himself, Dracula. Now tell me, Bob, what does Dracula look like?" He asked.

"What?" Bob asked dumbly, causing Gavin to flip over the table in front of him violently.

"What country are you from?" Gavin asked.

"W-What?" Bob gasped as Johan and Katerina chuckled, knowing exactly where this was going.

"What ain't a country I ever heard of, do they speak English in what?" Gavin yelled, getting closer to the man.

"What?" The HYDRA rookie repeated again.

"English, motherfucker. Do you speak it?!" He yelled.

"Yes!" He confirmed nervously.

"Then you understand what I'm sayin'?" The pseudo vampire asked.

"Yes!" The man replied in fear.

"Then describe what Count Dracula looks like!" Gavin ordered.

"What?" The man asked before Gavin put Devil's Ruin in his face.

"Say What again. Say. What. _Again!_ I dare you, I double dare you motherfucher, say what one more goddamn time!" The boy threatened.

"H-he's pale like a corpse." The poor sap began.

"Go on." The pseudo vampire prompted.

"H-h-he has fangs." The grunt continued fearfully.

"Does he look like a bitch?" Gavin asked suddenly.

"What?" Bob asked in confusion and got shot in the shoulder for it.

"Does. He. _Look. _Like a _bitch_?!" The boy yelled.

"No!" The rookie got out through the pain.

"So why are you and HYDRA trying to fuck him like a bitch, Bob?" The boy asked.

"We didn't." Bob managed to reply.

"Yes you did. Yes. You. _Did_, Bob_._ By HYDRA doing all their fucked up shit to Mutants, you guys are fucking his kinsmen, and him by proxy. And Lord Dracula don't like to be fucked by anyone except Mrs. Dracula." Gavin told him. "You read the Bible, Bob?"

"Yes!" The soon to be dead idiot replied.

"Well I got this passage memorized for just such an occasion. Ezekiel 25:17. 'The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers And you will know My name is the Lord! When I lay my vengeance upon thee!" Gavin said as he held his guns towards Bob and started firing as he screamed and Johan did the same to the guy in the corner.

"Did you get the info?" The horror fan asked Katerina.

"Yeah, they were pretty easy to break, so I got it and put their minds back together before they could notice." She nodded.

"Then let's go." He told them as they left the dead bodies behind. But unbeknownst to the Sever siblings, Gavin had intentionally mentioned the vampire ruse because of the body cams their victims had, and the people watching saw it all.

(Elsewhere)

Rogue, Amara, Jean, Tabitha, Kitty and Roxy had just recently formed a vigilante team together called the Bayville Sirens, and now they just roped Chelsea into it.

"Okay, when did you girls even get this idea, anyway?" The dragoness asked as she looked herself over. She was wearing some black clothes that were skintight and some light armor to protect herself from attacks. Hers did little to hide her cleavage and had no back to allow access for her wings. "Though this may be a pretty kinky get up for a date with Logan later…" She mused.

"Well I got the idea after stopping a car jacking with Amara." Tabitha shrugged.

"Ah thought it was a good idea because if Gavin can do it, why can't we?" Rogue added.

"Speaking of which, how are you handling what he did in Rio? That couldn't have been easy to watch." Kitty asked in concern.

"You saw what he put in his journal, he bottled up so much hatred and rage that it was bound to blow at some point. And with his different aspects of his personality?... Well let's just say Ah wasn't all that surprised. Ah'm just… Worried is all, that it may come back to haunt him later." The Southern Belle sighed.

"He's not alone, though. Remember that friend Bast mentioned, Johan Sever? He's helping him out. And he's got a little sister that's on the bandwagon, too. He'll survive with their help." Chelsea said reassuringly.

"So does that mean that his vendetta is now more like a sanctioned top secret mission?" Amara asked as they walked out of the garage of the Institute.

"That's pretty much the gist of it." The dragoness said with a shrug. "I also heard that Katerina, Johan's sister, is basically the female mutant version of Cthulhu." She added, much to the other girl's surprise.

"Now that's trippy." Tabitha said as they went to go stop some more crime.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was now placing detonation devices on the reactor core of the base they just finished storming. "Johan, are the prisoners all evacuated yet?" He called into his comm.

"_Yeah. I'm having my nanotech act as extra eyes to make sure no one's been left behind. So far, it looks like we've got 'em all outta here." _The soldier replied.

"Good cuz I'm fixin to set this thing to blow in exactly three minutes." The boy said as he pulled the pin and exited through the main fan. "Fireball!" He yelled as the base blew up behind him as he came flying out.

As he tumbled to the ground, he then addressed the now free prisoners. "Alright people, we've disabled your trackers so you can all leave as soon as you find transportation. Go back to your homes and families, and be free!" He told them. The prisoners all cheered in gratitude for their saviors before they all began their long trek back to their families.

"So, where to now?" Katerina asked.

"You know what they say, when in Rome." He shrugged.

(Elsewhere)

The newly formed Bayville Sirens had just found the center of the chop shop ring and were now in a fight with the goons and the leader of the operation. Chelsea, of course, was able to subdue most of them by using her wings and claws to dive and attack, or slap them into walls with her tail.

Roxy, meanwhile, used her stingers and digging to her advantage. And every time she was in danger, she'd always be able to dodge for some reason.

"I thought you were legally blind?" Amara questioned as she watched the scorpion girl literally dodge a bullet.

"Scorpion sense! It's basically like ESP!" The adrenaline junky called back. She then somehow managed to deck a guy hard enough to knock them out.

Right at that moment, Chelsea was trying to pin down the boss, but her tail knocked a fuel drum into a fuse box in the struggle and caused it to explode, catching the whole building on fire.

"Crap!" Tabitha shouted in surprise as the fires spread.

Punching the guy unconscious, Chelsea hoisted him up and went full dragon, and with a swing of her tail she took down one of the walls and gave them an escape route. With that, the girl's climbed on her back and they flew off before anybody could see them.

The Sirens would live to fight another day.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin and Johan were now in Rome with their other three companions and while the two escaped HYDRA prisoners relaxed at their hotel room. The two men were currently busy watching Katerina interrogating another informant the same way she had the past seven others: by literally fucking the info out of them with her Cthulhu form.

"Why are we letting her do it this way again?" Gavin asked with a massive blush as he watched the eldritch girl 'work.'

"Because HYDRA is full of perverted degenerates with tentacle hentai fantasies, and my sister intends to exploit the hell out of that." Johan replied with a tired sigh, having long since grown used to this tactic his younger sibling developed.

Katerina moaned like a whore as she bounced on the cock of the man below her, her ass jiggling and her breasts slapping his face as her tentacles dug themselves into his nose, ears, mouth and his ass. The unnamed man screamed in sheer pleasure (which made Johan want to kill him), the vibrations traveling through the flexible appendages and generating even more pleasure to the one they were attached to.

Katerina removed the tentacles from his mouth and smiled. "Will you give us what we want now? If you do, I'll let you cum inside me." She purred, the tentacles moving towards the man's eyes.

"Alright, alright! I'll talk! Just let me finish!" He pleaded, making Johan's disgust grow.

"Good boy." She cooed as he spilled everything he knew. Once he did though, Katerina immediately forced two tentacles down his throat and then gouged out his eyes with the ones that were in his mouth right after the man came in her pussy.

After that she got off and turned to the other two. "Alright, I got what we need. Let me get dressed so we can kick ass." She told them as she turned back to normal and got dressed. Though she also swallowed her victims gouged out eyes.

"I have several different personalities, and all of them are disturbed by that." Gavin confessed with a shudder.

"Yeah, I know how you feel. No matter how many times I see her do it, I'll never be able to suppress a shudder." The man next to him agreed with a shudder of his own. "But you gotta admit, she makes a damn good Cthulhu." He added.

"Yeah." The boy nodded.

With that, they stormed the H-4 base and repeated the same process as before with the other bases, though when they were done, they did obtain one HVT: a clone proxy of one of the organization's higher ups, Madame HYDRA, named Sidewinder. And apparently the clone had a mental link to her progenitor.

"Can I screw her, _please?_ I could probably end up scaring the shit out of their leaders if she's really linked to one of them!" The Cthulhu girl suggested. Johan actually considered it before turning to Gavin.

"What do you think? Should we let her?" He asked the pseudo vampire.

"If it'll drive one of them mad? I say screw her to death." He replied with a savage look on his face.

"You got it!" Katerina said with an evil look on her face, already planning out what horrors to make Madame HYDRA see.

With that, they went back to their hotel room for the night and Katerina shoved Sidewinder, who she stripped naked, onto her bed as she stood before her in her naked, titanic, Lovecraftian glory.

"Now… Let's scar that pretty little mind of yours, shall we?" She purred before her tentacles surged forward.

Johan, Gavin, Marcus and Romano didn't even react when they heard the screams of terror coming from the room they were in as they played cards.

"Did any of you hear something?" The former drug addict asked.

"Nope." The elder Sever sibling replied.

"Nada." Romano shrugged.

"Probably just someone's TV." Gavin shrugged.

(Elsewhere)

In HYDRA headquarters, the leaders of the organization watched as Madame HYDRA was being tormented by the mental links with Sidewinder's sharing capabilities. The images were all causing her to scream in horror.

"Zis is very much a vexing situation." Baron Zemo said to a man next to him, who's face wasn't a face at all, but the skull, and it was somehow colored red.

"It truly is. Vhat could possibly be doing this to her?" Red Skull wondered.

"If I were to guess, Hier Schmit, I would say it is the same monster woman who drove our forces mad in Brazil." A bald elderly man wearing a monocle suggested.

"That it could be, Hier Strucker, that it could be." A man whose face was on a TV screen which was planted in his torso mused.

"Do you think you can help her, Doctor?" Skull asked.

"I could sever the link she has with Sidewinder, but I do not think I can heal her mind of the mental trauma." He replied.

"Do vhat you must. For now though, ve must prepare. After all…" Skull said as he stood up. "Ve have a var to prepare for." He added as the Doctor got to work.

**Dragon Emperor0: And with that guys, we finally get to see just what Katerina is capable of when she gives into her perverted urges. And Gavin let out his inner Samuel L. Jackson too.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Surprised that Katerina can use her abilities in such a way? Well don't be. This is normal for her, much to Johan's exasperation. Anyway, It's passed one in the morning on my end, so if y'all don't mind, I'mma gonna go crash.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Good night everyone!**


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39: Wakandan Outback **

After destroying the bases in Hong Kong and Rome, the trio then took time to break Sidewinder and have her bring them to the ones in Baghdad and then one in Germany. That left exactly five more bases to take down.

After that, Katerina had actually settled down and had more or less put a lid on her perverted urges after breaking Sidewinder. However, instead of killing the clone, she instead turned her into her own personal toy to use as she pleased. Something Johan was a little irked about.

"Why can't you just make your sis ditch Sidewinder? I mean, you're the older sibling, right?" Romano asked as he scratched his head in confusion.

"Because as much as I hate to admit, she's stronger than I am." He admitted reluctantly with a sigh.

"Well there's a blow to the old manhood." Marcus said.

"How do you think I feel?" Johan grumbled.

"Focus guys, we're about to approach the Wakanda border." Gavin snapped. They had been driving for the past hour and they were finally about to reach their destination: the esoteric African kingdom known as Wakanda.

As soon as they did, however, their Jeep was met by resistance from armed guards armed with vibranium weapons, and were riding rhinos, apparently.

"You are approaching Wakanda territory. State your business or we will deal with you accordingly." One of them ordered.

Johan then jumped out and held up his SHIELD badge. "I am Agent Johan Sever, codename Omni, from SHIELD, my companions and I are here on a sanctioned shadow op against a sect of the terrorist organization HYDRA that has been suspected to have taken refuge within your lands."

"Say we believe your words, where is their base located in our territory?" Another guard inquired.

"The base has been suspected to be residing in one of the deepest parts of your natural forests, just northeast of your vibranium mines." Johan explained, handing a picture up the man in front of him. It showed pictures and videos of mutants being led into the compound in chains. And many of them being either branded publicly as a means of breaking them, or even being operated on out in the open to maximize pain, particularly by forcibly fusing some of the more powerful mutant's skins with stolen vibranium.

The one looking at the pictures and images was mortified by what he was seeing. "And this has been happening in our borders without us knowing?!" He asked, his voice full of anger.

"It has. I'd like to bring this evidence to the current Black Panther to make him aware of what is happening and gain his permission to attack the base due to it being in his kingdom." The green eyed soldier explained.

"Yes, but unfortunately the current Black Panther is only the crowned prince, so you will need to speak with his father, the King and the Wakandan Council." The man said. "I am W'Kabi, I shall take you to see King T'Chaka."

"Very well. Lead the way, W'Kabi." Johan replied as he got back into the Jeep.

With that they were led into Wakanda's borders, and everyone was surprised by what they were seeing. The small hidden country's technology was far more advanced than what they had back home, especially the cloaking force-field surrounding the country itself.

After parking their Jeep, W'Kabi's companion, a man named Zuri, lead Marcus and Romano to a place where they could stay. While the other trio was led to the throne room of King T'Chaka. However, they were soon blocked by a bald woman wearing red armor of sorts holding a spear, and a man in typical Wakandan Royal garb and looked a lot like Chadwick Boseman.

"Prince T'Challa, Okeye, I have brought the three who wish to speak with the King." W'Kabi said to the two.

"What is it they wish to speak to father about?" TChalla asked.

"Oh I dunno, how about the fact that your country has been turning a blind eye while a Nazi terrorist group has been tormenting and turning mutants like me into slaves right under your noses?!" Gavin hissed as he flashed his fangs in annoyance, which earned him spear pointed in his face from Okeye.

"Gavin!" Katerina hissed as she elbowed him. Johan, meanwhile, sighed in irritation.

"Despite this bluntness and anger at the topic, he is correct. We have evidence of HYDRA having a base in your borders." Johan told them.

"Truly?" T'Challa asked before cursing under his breath. "I apologize, I realize now that we should not have been so careless." He then turned to Gavin, who managed to calm himself. "You say that you are a mutant?"

"Yeah, why?" The boy asked.

"I once was engaged to a powerful mutant myself. A beautiful woman with the power to control the weather. Do you know her?" The prince asked.

"Yes I do, actually. If you're referring to Ororo, then she's living just fine." Gavon replied. "She's actually one of my teachers."

"Ah, good, so you are one of her students." The man nodded. "Then come, my father and the council are just beyond this door."

"Then let's proceed, shall we?" Johan beckoned. With that they stepped inside, and in the room were several elderly people, each in various forms of African garb. And at the very front was a man who was wearing glasses and sitting on a throne.

"Father." T'Challa said while bowing slightly to the man.

"Son, who are these people who so boldly came to our borders, demanding an audience and free entry into our lands?" T'Chaka asked his son.

"SHIELD agents on a sanctioned shadow operation. They have evidence of the organization HYDRA having a base within our borders." His son replied, making everyone's attention focus on him.

"How is this possible?" An elderly woman questioned incredulously.

"And what _exactly _are those heathens doing within our lands?" Another member of the council asked.

"I'll let all of you look over the evidence we came here with so you can see for yourselves." Johan said as he gave said evidence to the King for him and the council to look over. Needless to say they were less than pleased with what they saw, though the majority of the council were more concerned about HYDRA doing what they were doing within Wakandan borders, not the atrocities themselves.

"And they've been doing this under our noses?!" One member asked, voicing his anger.

"So it would seem. What concerns me is how they're getting their greedy hands on our vibranium." Another piped up.

"Either way, I believe our actions concerning this base are very clear: We destroy it, take back our vibranium and set the innocent souls within it free." An elderly man said.

"Finally, someone acknowledges that there are _innocent _people being tortured in there." Gavin growled.

"Calm down, Gavin. We'll get to that base soon." The Cthulhu woman assured him.

"That's not what's got me pissed." He muttered. T'Challa looked at the boy in sympathy.

"Agent Omni." T'Challa asked Johan.

"Yes?" He responded.

"If you'd be willing, I'd like to join you on your mission, seeing as that this base is on Wakandan soil." The man told him.

"Of course. Though in advance, I'd like to warn you of my sister's… Abilities. Does the name Cthulhu sound familiar to you?" He inquired.

"I am vaguely familiar with the monstrosity, yes." The man nodded.

"My sister's mutation is a somewhat watered down version of him. You won't go insane by looking at her, but she can still induce insanity and reconstruct a person's mind from it. She is also able to turn her entire body into a female version of the aforementioned monster." He explained.

"So I shouldn't be surprised if I suddenly find members of HYDRA tearing each other apart?" He summarized.

"You shouldn't be surprised by a ten foot tall eldritch woman walking around either." Johan added, getting a nod in return.

"I see. Thank you for the warning." T'Challa told him. "When will you attack the base?" He then asked.

"Immediately." The pseudo vampire said as he adjusted the cross necklace Rogue gave him for Christmas.

"I'll get ready, then." The Black Panther said before heading to where his armor was stored.

(Elsewhere)

Ororo was sitting in the living room with Evan when she got a call on her phone. "Hello?" She asked.

"_Ororo." _The voice of T'Challa spoke from the other end.

"T'Challa? Not that I mind, but why are you calling all of a sudden?" The weather mistress asked in surprise.

"_One of your students is here in Wakanda."_ The crowned prince told her. She was about to ask when it suddenly hit her.

"Gavin is in Wakanda? Why?" She asked.

"_He and two agents from SHIELD are here. We are about to attack a HYDRA base that had been right under our noses… I'm sorry Ororo, if I would have known, I would have __**never **__allowed those innocent mutants endure such suffering._" T'Challa explained before apologizing.

"Don't worry. You're fixing it now. Just make sure Gavin gets out of that mess alive." She told him.

"_If I don't, then those two SHIELD agents will. Anyway, it is almost time to attack the base. Bye for now." _He replied before hanging up.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin and the Sever siblings now followed T'Challa to the base and they all saw that it was being guarded by mind controlled mutants whose skin looked silver. They were entirely coated in vibranium.

"Uh oh, that looks like trouble." Johan whispered.

"Those sick bastards!" Gavin growled.

"Want me to break them out of everything controlling their minds?" Katerina offered.

"That would be useful, yes." T'Challa nodded. "Wait…" He then pointed at a pair of men who were talking outside the base. One was most obviously Artum Zola, and the other was a man who looked similar to Andy Serkis. "Ulysses Klaw… So that's how they've been getting the vibranium."

"How do you wanna deal with him?" Johan asked as he readied his gun.

"Keep Klaw alive, my father will want to deal with him personally." The prince told them. "The other man, however, you may do as you wish with him.

"Alright. Sis, deal with the vibranium coated mutants. Gavin, help T'Challa deal with Klaw. I'll deal with the other guy." Johan said as he readied his assault rifle.

"That guy is Artum Zola, HYDRA's head scientist, and he's basically a human brain inside an old computer. We wanna kill him permanently? We gotta make sure he can't come back digitally." The pseudo vampire added as he cracked his knuckles.

"A virus, then? I think I can manage that." The nanotech soldier said with a smirk.

"Make sure he's permanently dead." Gavin stated before the quartet of heroes charged towards the base, ready to destroy everything that got in their way.

The first to notice them were the mutants, who started using their powers to attack them, terrakinesis, aquakinesis, glass creation and manipulation, and there was even one with pain immunity.

Katerina sent several blasts of eldritch energy at them to make them stop the attacks of the first three. The shots hit their marks and the mutants collapsed to the ground, clutching their heads and screaming in terror.

"Good work, Cthulhu! Keep going with the others too inside the base!" Gavin yelled as he charged at Klaw who blasted him with a vibranium powered gun.

"Ya made a bad move coming here, kid!" The man yelled as he pointed the cannon at him.

"That's what you think, asshole!" The boy yelled as he turned into smoke and then reappeared next to him and struck him with his sword, causing him to drop the gun.

"GAH!" Klaw yelled in pain as he staggered to the ground. Gavin then pointed his sword in the man's face.

"You are gonna pay for supplying these assholes with vibranium. Especially after what they've done with it." The boy growled.

"Tch, why should I care? Money is money." The old man said uncaringly.

"Don't gimme that shit." He snapped, showing his fangs before turning to T'Challa who managed to knock out the mutant with pain immunity. "He's all yours, T'Challa."

"Thank you." He nodded before glaring at Klaw. "I do believe we have much to discuss." He growled.

Klaw groaned as he fell back. Meanwhile, Johan was currently fighting Zola, and his nanotechnology was working it's way into the cyber man's body right under his holographic nose.

"I think you're long overdue to join your precious fuhrer in the depths of hell, Zola!" He yelled as he decked the scientist in his TV screen face. Zola staggered for a moment before he regained his footing.

"You cannot kill me! I am immortal!" He boasted arrogantly. Johan just smirked at him in response.

"Let's test that theory." The man stated as he snapped his fingers. Seconds later, Zola's mechanical body started to malfunction.

"VAT?! V-v-v-v-vat's h-h-h-happ-p-p-p-pening?!" He yelled in shock as his mech malfunctioned.

"What's the matter? Can't stop a virus from entering your personal network?" Johan taunted with a smirk.

"Y-Y-Y-Y-You cannot do this! My vork is t-t-too important! Near si-i-i-i-i-ighted fools like you would never understand my bri-I-I-i-i-iliance!" The mechanical man sputtered through static. "Mutants are meant to be veapons! They are not humans, your anger is meaningless!" He stated, causing Johan to glare at him.

"I'm not nearsighted, you're fucking blinder than a bat! Mutants are just as alive as the rest of us. They think, they feel and they can sure as hell hold a massive grudge! People like you are going to be the downfall of humanity as a whole, and that is the reason you will fade and be nothing more than an unpleasant memory. Good riddance, you deranged fuck." The green streaked man growled as the virus finally destroyed him for good.

With Zola gone, the three men threw Klaw in the back of the Jeep and entered the base, where Katerina had already been putting detonation devices all over and fixing the brainwashed and vibranium infused mutants, and setting the rest free.

"We're good to go now guys, right everyone?" The woman called back to the escapees behind her.

"Damn right!" One of them replied.

"Come with me and my people will lead you back to your homes." T'Challa told them as the four led the escapees on the first steps of their exodus from captivity.

(A couple days later)

_-Sydney, Australia-_

Gavin and his four companions were now in Sydney, Australia to destroy the HYDRA base there. After letting Marcus and Romano do their own things, they started to track down any possible leads to the location of the base.

After the permanent destruction of Artum Zola, the HYDRA higher ups had become frantic to stop any further damage. They were sending everything from mercenaries to brainwashed mutants after them, which really slowed their progress.

"We really stirred up the hornet's nest this time, didn't we?" Katerina asked as they finished up interrogating a HYDRA doctor/mole who was in the Australian hospitals kidnapping mutant babies and patients.

"Yeah we did. Personally, I think this is an indicator of how much damage we're doing." Gavin said from where he stood.

"Yeah. The people they're sending after us is proof that they're getting scared. We keep going as we are, they'll slip up eventually and we'll find what we're looking for." Johan said before he suddenly smirked. "And maybe we'll find something really juicy in the process." He added.

"What are you getting at?" Gavin asked as he shot the dead beat doctor in the head, his gaze never leaving the German American.

"What I'm saying is that we might get lucky and find ourselves with an opportunity to kill the jackass leading HYDRA if we play our cards right." The green streaked man elaborated.

"The Red Skull? I don't doubt it. That guy has his mind on one thing: world domination. You mess with his chances of that objective? You're screwed." The boy smirked. "Anyway, The base we're looking for is located right underneath Uluru or Ayers Rock, Australia's largest rock formation."

"Well then, let's rip 'em a new asshole to shit out of." Katerina smirked ferally.

"Guess we're gonna be goin _down under_, eh eh?" Johan chuckled.

"Shut up, Johan." Gavin snapped half heartedly as he rolled his eyes with a smile.

It was late at night when they reached the Ayers Rock, and now they were waiting for someone to show them the entrance.

"So is there a reason why your costume looks like you belong in the Akatsuki?" Katerina asked, having been curious about that for a while.

"Ya know, that's been on my mind for a bit, actually." Johan confessed as he looked at Gavin for an answer.

"Next to vampires I'm also a fan of ninjas, actual historical ninjas. But I like the Akatsuki for their varying sets of people with different motivations. Like the one I chose to base this costume off of: Pain." The boy told them. "He wanted to cause the people who wronged him and his loved ones the same pain they suffered, just like me."

The two siblings nodded in understanding. As they traveled and talked, they had begun to understand Gavin's motivations and just what made him hate HYDRA so much. Johan could easily stand by him. If his sister had been taken by HYDRA, he'd be on a warpath until he found her again… And made sure they suffered for what they had done. Katerina also understood. While her brother wasn't a mutant, she loved him dearly and would drive anyone who did _anything _bad to him into the abyss of insanity.

"Yeah… We can see that." Johan said while Katerina nodded in agreement. The younger sibling then remembered something that was constantly slipping her mind.

"Aaaaand I just remembered that I have a healing factor." She said with a facepalm, making Gavin look at her oddly.

"You have a healing factor and yet you forget about it? How does that even work?" He asked incredulously.

"The reason we keep forgetting about it is because everyone around her is usually already insane before they can hurt her. It happens all the time." The older sibling explained.

"... You guys are weird." Gavin said as he suddenly saw someone walk towards the rock and then the ground suddenly opened up. "And there's the white rabbit that'll lead us to wonderland."

"He must be late, for a very important date." Johan chuckled.

"Let's third wheel that date." Katerina added.

"Oh yeah." Gavin smirked as they made their way to the entrance and let Johan work his magic.

"Here's a little jewejewebee right here." The man said as he removed the mechanism that kept the door closed and held it in his hand while looking at it. "Hello mama." He smirked as the door opened, no alarms even indicating that they had gone off. "Wow, it's like they _want _us to storm the place." He chuckled.

"Why do I get the feeling that we're about to walk into a trap?" Katerina asked as they went further down.

"We probably are. Omni, send some nanotech to scout ahead." Gavin ordered.

"Got it." The older man nodded and sent some nanotech to see what was waiting for them. "Oh for fuck's sake…" He groaned.

"What?" Gavin asked.

"We got some of the most notorious Mercs up ahead. Crossbones, The Beetle, Taskmaster, and… Oh fuck no." Johan said before he went pale.

"What?" Katerina asked.

"Deadpool's here." He finished. Katerina and Gavin immediately lost all color in their faces.

"Kill me now…" The eldritch themed woman groaned.

"I _knew _that name HYDRA Bob sounded familiar! He was a really close friend of Deadpool." Gavin said before facepalming.

"And we capped his ass." Johan sighed.

"This is gonna suck, isn't it?" The pseudo vampire groaned tiredly.

"Oh yeah. Big time." The man nodded. With that they continued forward, and sure enough, said mercenaries were all there, Deadpool included.

"Well well well, if it ain't the dumbasses that killed my best friend!" The regenerating degenerate said in faux cheerfulness, but everyone knew he was actually angry at his best friend's killers.

"_Yeah no shit captain obvious, seriously what the fuck is wrong with you two? Killing HYDRA Bob just for a Pulp Fiction reference?" _Wade questioned as he pulled out of reality to address the powers that be.

**[Hey, piss off!] **The co-author retorted.

_[This is our story, you're just living in it.]_ The author added.

Back in reality, Gavin glared at Wade coldly after the Merc had just questioned why the pseudo vampire killed Bob.

"You asked me why I did that. But even if I told you I doubt that the knowledge would change anything at all. But let's say that I took the time to explain it to you, what would you say?" The boy asked as he stepped forward and blocked an incoming punch from Crossbones. "My goal is to fulfill the dream that not even Captain America could have achieved. What I want is to create peace and bring about justice."

"How the fuck was killing HYDRA Bob doing justice?!" Deadpool retorted angrily. "I'm here to get justice for my friend, and the home and family you tore him away from!"

Gavin nodded slowly as he kicked Crossbones into Beetle and towards Johan. "Oh I see, that would be justice." He nodded before he rushed at Wade and stabbed him through the chest with his bare hand. "However, What about my family? My friends? _My _home? They suffered the same fate as Bob did at the hands of HYDRA and thugs like you. How is it fair for you people to go on about peace and justice? Years ago, HYDRA came to the benefactors of my family in the yakuza to have the gangs develop weapons for them and wage war on the streets so they could profit from it. If they hadn't, they probably would have been taken down rather quickly, but then they decided to go after mutants. Treating these human beings like little remote control toys for their own gain, so our slowly growing race suffered for it." He said this as Katerina was fighting Crossbones hand to hand style while trying to strangle Taskmaster with her tentacles and Johan was trying to subdue Beetle.

"You and I are the same, Deadpool. We both are motivated by the pain of losing the ones we hold dear, and a desire for justice along with peace." Gavin continued as he removed his now bloodied hand from Wade's chest. "The justice I seek to deal against HYDRA is no different from what you are trying to do to me. Everyone feels the same pain of losing a loved one. You and I have both experienced that pain. You strive for your justice, I strive for mine. We're just ordinary men who are seeking vengeance in the name of justice, and if one comes to call vengeance justice, such justice will only breed further vengeance. And trigger a vicious cycle of hatred. You and I now live in such a cycle. I know the past and with its knowledge can foretell our future, it is the same as our history. So we believe that human beings, human or mutant simply can't understand each other, and they never will. This corrupt world we live in is ruled by hatred and hatred alone." He then looked down at Deadpool who looked up at him as his chest healed.

"So, Deadpool, how will you combat this hatred to create peace?" Gavin then knelt down to be at eye level with the mercenary, his cloak's collar hiding his mouth. "I want to know what your answer is." He finished.

Deadpool looked to the side silently as he tried to come up with an answer, but couldn't. How was someone like him supposed to counter that?

"I don't know, I don't have an answer." The Merc with a Mouth said, for once in his life not having anything to say. "_Damn you two, that was seriously deep. I'm speechless. And I'm __**never **__speechless!" _Deadpool said to the authors.

**[We try, and I think we nailed it good.] **The co-author replied.

_[And __**that **__is why Pain is one of my favorite villains in all of anime.] _The author added.

Back in reality, Wade just sat there as Gavin stood up and then turned to his partners, and saw they were having trouble with the other mercenaries.

"I appreciate you listening, Deadpool, I needed to get that off my mind." The boy said to the Regenerative Degenerate before joining his friends in the fight.

With the Sever siblings, they were starting to tire out against the three mercs they were fighting. It started off well enough, but they had a lot of experience over them and it showed.

Though once Gavin joined to even out the odds? All that went out the window. He immediately went after Taskmaster and started attacking him, and even with his photographic memory, Gavin's superhuman speed kept the man from being able to copy his moves.

With a strong kick, Gavin sent Taskmaster crashing into a wall and knocked him out on impact.

"Thanks man." Johan said as the boy helped him up. "Now, let's give my sister some breathing room." He said as he went to help his Lovecraftian sibling with the horror enthusiast.

Beetle was easy enough to beat, all Johan hard to do was shoot his jet pack with his sniper rifle, and the ensuing malfunction and sixteen inches of steel did the rest. Crossbones, however, was an entirely different beast.

"This guy is seriously tough!" Katerina growled, still in her Cthulhu form. "And his mental fortitude is so strong that my powers won't work on him!"

"We'll have to get really creative here, then! Vampyr, any ideas?" Johan asked the youngest of the trio.

"Do whatever ya want kids, you still won't be able to beat me! I've gone toe to toe with the Wolverine, Sabertooth, the Avengers, and even that asshole the Juggernaut." Crossbones boasted as he threw a few shadow boxing punches.

"Almost nothing. You two distract him, I think I've got something that might work." Gavin told the siblings.

"Alright, Cthulhu?" Johan said to his sister as he pulled out a scout rifle.

"I hear you, Omni. Let's go to work." Katerina replied as she cracked her knuckles.

With that, Gavin turned to smoke and made Crossbones look around before he was shot at by Johan through the smoke and then decked in the face by Katerina.

"Lucky shot!" He grunted as he recovered.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." She retorted.

Before he could retort, a laser shot him in the back and made him fall to his knees and as Gavin retracted his gun's laser function and then held Devil's Scorn at the back of the man's head before shooting him execution style.

"That was a lot tougher than I thought it would be." Katerina panted as she turned back to normal and collapsed onto her ass.

"Yeah, guess it's true what they say, power is meaningless against experience without a solid plan." Gavin sighed. "Come on, let's go-where's Deadpool?" He beckoned before noticing that the aforementioned merc was missing all of a sudden.

"I dunno." Johan shrugged as they went through the base. Gavin was in charge of releasing the prisoners this time, and after a while he finally reached the solitary confinement section and then found a guy who was in a straight jacket and had a blindfold on his eyes.

"Come to take me for more of those damn tests?" The guy said, thinking he was a guard.

"Nope. I'm here to set you loose." The pseudo vampire told him as he used Bloodfallen to slice apart the straight jacket. The boy removed the blindfold and revealed he had forest green eyes. "Name's Vampyr, me and my two friends Omni and Cthulhu are in a three man war against HYDRA right now. Who're you?" He asked.

"Sean." The boy stated, his currently grimy brown hair showing that he had not had a decent shower in a while. He was also very pale, indicating he hadn't gotten any sunlight in ages.

"So, any particular reason why they got you in solitary while blindfolded?" Gavin asked as they left the room.

"Yeah. I can temporarily copy any power I see from any individual. Naturally, they got scared of me and locked me up." He explained as they walked.

"Huh." The boy nodded. "I know what it's like to be feared. I mean, my powers basically make me a mutant soul sucking vampire. And my powers are so strong that I have to have four levels of mystic and telepathic Control Art Seals to keep them at bay."

"Seriously? Shit. That must be rough to deal with on a regular basis." Sean commented.

"It is. Certain aspects of my personality were also sealed away for the safety of others… But then I met the people at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Those guys treated me like I was normal, they never thought of me as a monster… They made me feel like family." The pseudo vampire said before looking at the boy next to him. "That's why I'm doing this: Some of my friends there went through hell at the hands of HYDRA, so I'm here to get justice and end their hate once and for all, for the sake of all mutants."

Sean looked at him with admiration and couldn't help but feel the desire to join the war he and his friends were waging. He went through hell because of HYDRA, so why shouldn't he help others who were suffering at their hands?

"I wanna help." Sean said. Gavin only shook his head as they got back to the Sever siblings and the rest of the escapees.

"No. This is my fight. You should go back home to your family, I'm sure they miss you." Gavin told him. Sean looked at him and sighed, though perked up when Gavin handed him a card. "Here, once you get to your family, think about coming to the Institute, we'll help you get your powers in line."

The power copier took the card and looked it over before nodding. "Alright. Thanks." He told him.

"You're welcome." The boy nodded as they all left and walked out of the base as it exploded behind them and sent a fire ball into the air.

Six bases down, only five to go, wouldn't be long now.

"Oh hey, Gavin. I almost forgot, you wouldn't believe what I found in that base we stormed in Germany." Johan said as they packed their bags back at the hotel.

"What'd you find?" Gavin asked with a raised eyebrow. The partial cyborg then pulled out a blue glowing cube from his bag.

"This, my pseudo vampiric friend, is the Tesseract in all its mythical glory." Johan said in a dramatic tone.

"... Well shit." Gavin said, unable to react any other way.

"Nice find bro." Katerina added.

"Yep. And now we got the perfect bait to lure out the Red Skull." The man grinned as he held up the cube with a smile. He loved it when a plan came together.

(Elsewhere)

Back at HYDRA HQ, Skull and the rest of the HYDRA top brass were more than livid at what was happening to their operations. Especially Skull, who was furious at the theft of the Tesseract. They had hoped to stop them at their base in Australia, considering who they hired, but even that failed!

"Zhis is ze _final _straw! No more hiding, comrades! We will squash zese interlopers like ze bugs zey are!" Skull yelled, slamming his armor clad fist on the table. "For the glory of HYDRA, zis stain on our legacy must not stand. Are you with me?!" He asked the other leaders of the organization, two of the seats being vacant due to Zola being dead and Madame HYDRA being catatonic.

"Hail HYDRA!" The others yelled, voicing their agreements.

**Dragon Emperor0: Now that's how you add depth to the philosophy of your character's desire for revenge. Also, I bet you guys probably won't know who Sean references.**

**ThermalsniperN7: I'll be impressed if some of you guys figure it out right away.**

**Deadpool: Quick question: Where did I go after Gavin went to help the two siblings?**

**Dragon Emperor0: Back home with Blind Al, Vennesa and Weasel to watch Golden Girls of course. Also, how many of you guys were surprised that ol' Wade here was speechless after Gavin's little monologue?**

**ThermalsniperN7: Let us know how surprised you were in your reviews. With that out of the way, see you guys next chapter!**

**Deadpool: Maximum Effort!**


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40: It All Ends Here.**

_Gavin vs the Winter Solstice: Almighty Push (Pain rap) by Daddyphatsnaps_

_Gavin vs Red Skull: All For One (Shigaraki) by Divide Music._

A total of two weeks had passed since Gavin and the others had left Australia to go to the last five bases. The first three were easy enough to take down since with the thinning of their numbers and resources in that branch, HYDRA had to redirect the rest of them to the more top priority bases: Departments H-10 and H-11.

Right now, the three were in the Canadian tundra looking for the former of the two, after leaving Marcus and Romano in Ontario. As they were searching, they passed the wreckage of a collapsed building, and for some reason, Gavin could hear whispers coming from it.

"The fuck…?" He muttered as he looked at the ruined building. The Sever siblings looked at him in confusion.

"What's up?" Katerina asked.

"I'm hearing something, hang on." He told her as he walked over to the wreckage and started grabbing and throwing the giant rubble and steel beams aside as if they were balls of paper. "Oh. My. _GOD_!" The pseudo vampire yelled in shock, causing the two siblings to rush over.

"What's- HOLY CRAP!" Johan started before shouting in shock. His little sister just stared at the disturbance with wide eyes.

Laying under the rubble were several crushed skeletons of HYDRA soldiers and among the bones was a single glowing wispy orb: it was someone's soul!

"What the fuck…?!" The eldritch woman whispered in shock, eyes still wide.

"Is that… Someone's soul…?" Johan breathed.

"Yeah." Gavin nodded as he picked it up, almost at the instant that his hand touched the orb, it suddenly showed flashes of memories of a Hawaiian girl with magma orange eyes, braided black hair, and a volcano tattooed on her left arm. "... I know who this belongs to." He gasped.

"Who?" The half cyborg asked as he looked at the soul.

"My friend Kai's twin sister, Pele. She died in an accident against HYDRA nine years ago while they were on the run. It totally broke Kai. But this is impossible… Her soul should have gone to the afterlife a long time ago." Gavin told them.

"Maybe that's why she didn't move on: She wants to make her sister smile again." Katerina said thoughtfully.

"Maybe, but I don't see her body." Gavin said as he looked around.

"I'm sure we'll find it. Come on, let's go." Johan told him. With that they continued looking for the base, soon finding it, and that it was crawling with personel.

"Come on. Let's rip 'em apart." Johan beckoned as he readied his assault rifle.

"With pleasure." Gavin nodded as they charged forward. After a massacre outside the base, they busted their way into the base and as the siblings were setting the place to blow and releasing any prisoners, Gavin was going to the main leader's quarters, finding that it was abandoned, but as he looked around, he saw that it used to belong to the guy at the top of his kill list: Victor Rowner.

But when he turned the place looking upside down out of rage, he found something truly disturbing: recorders, discs and journals all recording Chelsea's torture sessions with him and the many times he attempted to… Rape her…. and behind his desk he also had a classic 'obsession shrine' to her, and his records all told of what he'd do to her when she finished the transfer process into the breeding program.

'_I want him dead __**sooooooooo**_ _badly right now!' _The boy thought with enough rage to make certain people shrink away from him in fear. With a yell of fury he let his powers loose and destroyed the office before going down to the Solitary Confinement section with Johan and Katerina after the former rigged the place to blow in ten minutes.

One by one they released one mutant after another, until they reached the one that was under the most security.

"Johan?" Gavin asked him.

"Roger that." The man in question replied as he let his nanotech do their job.

Inside was a girl with long brown hair, tan skin, green eyes, and looked around the same age as Jamie and Kai. Her arms were chained up in the air and so were her legs, she also was in a skin tight leather bodysuit that had metal pins sticking out of it which were connected to electric shockers, she also had on a shock collar around her neck and a bar shaped gag in her mouth.

"Who's this?" Gavin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"According to the records? She was only given the designation 'Weapon X-23' an attempt of recreating the Weapon X project." Johan explained as he looked through the files.

"Well don't just stand there guys! Let's help her down!" Katerina told them as she started to try and pull the girl down as said girl started moaning desperately as she struggled to get free.

"Way ahead of you!" Her brother replied as he sent his nanotech to hack the systems restraining her.

One thing after another she was released, but as soon as she was, She lunged at Katerina and deployed two adamantium claws on each hand and one in each foot. The Cthulhu woman's eyes widened before she dodged to the side and looked at the Wolverine themed girl in surprise.

"They _cloned _Logan?!" Gavin gasped in shock.

"Not necessarily. According to these files, she's the daughter of a cloned embryo grown inside the scientist Sarah Kienny, so she's actually that doctor and Wolverine's daughter. The dead giveaway that she isn't a full clone is her Chinese-esk features and her green eyes." Johan explained. "Hey sis, think you can give her mind a quick fix?" He called out to his younger sibling, who was dodging the clawed attacks sent her way in her Cthulhu form.

"On it!" She called back before she found an opening and stunned her assailant before she went to work on her mind. After a minute or two, she released the girl as she fell to her knees. "You okay?" She asked the girl as she knelt down in front of her.

"Yeah… Yeah, I think so." The no longer brainwashed girl replied as she held her head. Though a few seconds later her hands started shaking as she suddenly started to cry before she threw her arms around the Cthulhu woman and her face became buried in Katerina's currently H-cup bosom.

"Shhhh. Shhhhh. It's okay, it's all over now." The eldritch woman said comfortingly as she rubbed her back, not even phased by the freed experiment burying herself in her bosom.

"Under all that rage, lies a scared and sad child." Johan said with clenched fists. "This makes me so angry."

Gavin nodded as he went over the girl and his sudden appearance made her flinch. "Easy, easy, I won't hurt you." He whispered. "Do you have a name? Do you remember if your mother gave you one?" He asked her. The clawed girl frowned as she went through her memories to see if she was even given a name.

"L-Laura, my mother called me Laura." She said shakily.

"Listen Laura, we're here to wipe the facility from the face of the Earth. Do you know anything in particular that can help us out in the future?" Johan asked as gently as he could.

"No… Sorry." She said, shaking her head as she reluctantly left Katerina's embrace.

"Well, here." Gavin said before handing her the Institute business card. "If you need any help or just a place to see, come here. We'll be there to help you."

Laura looked at the card and took it before giving the boy a hug, surprising him before he returned it with a smile. With that, the girl left the base with them and joined the rest of the escapees on the journey to freedom.

"So, next stop: Moscow?" Katerina asked.

"Yep." Gavin nodded, getting a grin from Katerina.

"Finally, I get to play that song I've been itching to listen to!" She said happily, getting an amused look from her brother.

With that, they began flying to Russia with Moskau by Dschinghis Khan playing over the speakers of their jet. But they were suddenly interrupted, of course, when anti aircraft guns on a battleship started to shoot at them.

"What the fuck?! Why are they firing on us?!" The eldritch girl barked as she tried to stay in her seat.

"I don't know, but we're going down!" Johan said as their plane started to spiral down towards the ship and crashed into it.

Meanwhile, on the battleship, the commander grinned as the plane carrying the enemies of HYDRA went down, but that grin vanished upon seeing that the plane was spiralling towards the ship.

"Oh _shit!_" He yelled as he ran but as soon as the plane crashed, he was caught in the resulting explosion.

Meanwhile on the deck of the ship, a girl in glasses and dressed in a black 18th century sailors outfit was sitting outside in a lawn chair underneath an umbrella as the night sky loomed overhead with a flintlock rifle on her lap and a boom box next to her playing Never Gonna Give You Up.

"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you- OH SHIT!" She sang before letting out a startled yell upon seeing the plane spiralling toward the ship. As the plane blew up, Katerina stomped out with Marcus and Romano in her arms and Gavin on her shoulder while Johan was loading his gun.

"Alright, who's the fuckstick that thought it would be funny to shoot us out of the sky?!" The older Sever sibling barked angrily as he glared at every inch of the ship in his sight.

Gavin looked from his position on Katerina's shoulder and saw the woman in the lawn chair. He glared over his cloak's high collar. "I think I may know." The pseudo vampire said, pointing at her. Johan followed his finger to where it was pointing and glared at the woman he found.

"Huh, I expected you to be dead in zat crash." She admitted, her voice having a thick German accent.

"And you are?" Gavin groaned in a bored tone.

"Rip Van Winkle. I have been sent to kill you on ze orders of Hier Schmitt, ze Red Skull!" The woman said, standing at attention with her flattened hand raised to the air. "HAIL HYDRA!"

"FUCK HYDRA!" The Sever siblings countered angrily.

"Vampyr, wanna deal with her or do you want my sis to drive her insane?" Johan asked with a growl, his glare never leaving the woman in front of them.

"No need. I'll handle this bitch." The boy said as he leapt from Katerina's shoulder in a crouch, though as soon as he stood up, he was repeatedly shot by Van Winkle's flintlock.

"You think you can kill me?! You can't even survive my bullet onslaught!" She exclaimed with a shit eating grin. "I don't have to take zis from you! You racist, disgendered, patriarch propagating, nasogastric pig!" She yelled as she shot at him, but gasped when Gavin suddenly caught one of the musket balls in his mouth.

"You know, the funny thing is..." He began with a muffled voice before crushing the ball to dust in his teeth. ""In any other circumstance, you might have had a point there. Only my boss is a woman, I was a chick in the forties, I hate _everyone equally_, and there is _no one alive _who can comprehend _my _sexual preference!" He corrected her as he stomped up towards her. "So in other words Miss Van Winkle… CH-CH-CHECK YOUR PRIVILEGE!" He yelled as he punched her square in the face.

"He's just quoting Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, right?" Katerina whispered to her brother, who nodded.

"Though it makes me wonder if some of that may actually be true." The man stated.

Gavin then took Van Winkle's flint lock and then pushed its barrel deep into her stomach. "Have you heard about the new sensation sweeping the nation?" He asked her as his finger went to the trigger. "_Bitches love cannons!" _He said as he pulled the trigger.

The gun went off and Van Winkle let out a horrified scream as her insides were shot out all over the deck of the ship. With her flintlock in hand, Gavin stood atop the damaged ship as Johan redirected it towards Moscow and he looked out over the horizon, smoke flowing around him like a waterfall.

"Ehehehehehehe-hehehehehehe-AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AH HA!" The pseudo vampire started to chuckle maniacally as they sailed towards the location of the last base before his chuckling slowly became a fit of psychotic laughter.

(Elsewhere)

Victor Rowner was in the H-11 office he had moved to and just saw the slaughter that unfolded. His face was pale, who were these people and what were they after?

Back on the ship, Johan had put the ship on a collision course with the base, which was within their path just off the ice capped coast of the Russian shores. Turning on the intercom, he spoke into it.

"Attention all hands, this is your captain speaking. We are now approaching base H-11 and will be crashing shortly. Please secure all your belongings in advance before you depart. Thank you for joining us on Sever Sealines. We hope you enjoyed the ride." He said, doing his best impression of a captain before ending the broadcast.

"BONZAIIIIIIII!" Gavin yelled as they jumped out of the water and slid the nose of the ship straight into the base, causing it to split open and anyone caught in its wake to die instantly.

"Alright guys, let's do this." Johan said as he loaded a short barreled one handed shotgun, a grenade launcher and a rocket launcher. Marcus and Romano decided to stay on the ship for now to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Katerina whooped loudly as she assumed her Cthulhu form and flew right at the enemy and started driving them insane.

Gavin, meanwhile, just walked slowly into the base with his hands in the pockets of his cloak and beat everyone who came up to him by kicking or head butting them, or just using his smoke telekinesis to use Bloodfallen or just use it. Yawning the entire time as he beat them all the way through while releasing prisoners and killing doctors who were torturing or forcing mutants to breed or fight. All with his hands in his pockets.

Then he reached the room he was looking for: Rowner's office. Finally taking his hands out of his pockets he took ahold of Bloodfallen and then cut the door in half before kicking it down, sheathing his sword he put his hands back into his pockets before he walked inside the room, and found a terrified Rowner trying to grab everything he could so he could run like the coward he was.

"Well well well, look at what we have here: The bastard I've been tearing the world asunder to find." The boy said with a slightly demonic chuckle.

"I-i-i-i- I don't know you. Do not speak to me so casually, you genetic circus act, know your place in front of your bet-!" Rowner tried to say before he was cut off by Gavin appearing in front of him in a split second and back handing him into a wall.

"Do not think yourself to be my better, trash!" Vampyr growled murderously. "You tortured my friends, tried to turn one of them into your _bitch_ to satisfy your sick _fantasy_! Your fate. Is. _SEALED_!" He growled as he started beating the man senseless before slamming his face into the floor. "You remember Chelsea Marks? I'm doing all of this for her, and when I'm finished with you, you will be _begging _for her to kill you."

Rowner looked at him. "That bitch is responsible for this?! When I find her she will pay!" He spat.

"You say that like you'll be able to do something." Gavin said in an amused tone. He then hoisted the man up and then started dragging him away. "Before your death, I want to torment you so much that you'll be broken when Chelsea kills you."

He then dragged the doctor to where Katerina (who was in her human form) and Johan were waiting. "Alright Katerina, until we get back to Bayville, I want you to put this guy in an endless loop of going insane and being put back together, unless I tell you to give it a break, okay?"

"You got it!" Katerina grinned maliciously before assuming her Cthulhu form, causing Rowner to turn pale and whimper in terror at the Lovecraftian woman he was at the mercy of.

"I got some bad news, Gavin. Turns out this wasn't the last base." Johan told them gravely. Gavin's eyes snapped to him instantly.

"There's a twelfth base?! Where?" He asked.

"Deep under the polar ice caps of Antarctica. It houses all their back ups…. Including genetic materials for cloning any escaped assets." The man explained. Gavin seethed at this information. A backup facility for the entire organization's mutant weapons division? There will be hell to pay!

"That means we got more work to do!" The boy sighed.

"Then we got a lot of work to do to get there. Should we contact Fury?" Katerina asked seriously after knocking Rowner out.

"Yeah. But there's some good news: The remaining Higher Ups of HYDRA are gonna try and head us off at the base." Her brother nodded.

"Let 'em try. We'll kill 'em all." The eldritch woman said confidently.

"It's also guarded by an elite fighting force of reanimated clones called the Winter Solstice." Johan added as he called up Fury after the escapees all left the base before it blew up. "Fury, this Agent Omni." The man said into his comm.

"_Fury here. Go ahead, Omni."_ The SHIELD Director replied.

"We need a transport for some refugees from the currently demolished department H-11, and a plane, we have one last base to take down." Johan told him.

"_There should only be eleven bases. Did you destroy them all?" _He asked in confusion.

"We did, but we learned that there's a backup base full of clones underneath Antarctica." The half cyborg explained.

"_... Alright. Give those bastards hell. And Omni, you were sure to record all of this for records?" _Fury questioned.

"Yeah. I did." The man nodded.

"_Well keep doing it, I want to be sure Gavin's mental state isn't too compromised from this." _The Director ordered.

"You'll get no arguments from me." Johan agreed.

"_Good. Now go send HYDRA spiralling to the point of no return." _Nick said with an audible smirk before ending the call.

A couple hours later the transport arrived, and Romano and Marcus boarded it with the other escapees, they were going to go ahead to Bayville. Since they had already seen their place of torment fall, so they were okay with going.

The trio however got into a plane and started the flight towards Antarctica, and when they got there, they landed and Johan immediately started scanning the area for the base.

"It's under the ice, right? We'll probably have to dig our way down." Katerina said as she looked around.

Right at that moment the ground started to shake as four metal clawed tendrils shot out of the ground and then a massive dome shaped base appeared out of the ice, a giant drill at its bottom. It was truly titanic, being the size of a small city if not larger. Then it opened and six people came walking out of the base, causing Gavin's eyes to widen.

The people that stood before them were all exact replicas of Chelsea and the others, but they were wearing HYDRA garb. Respirators covered their mouths and they all had metal right arms with the HYDRA symbol on them. Lastly they had odd implants at the base of the back of their necks, and their eyes were white, indicating that they were reanimated.

The trio glared at the clones as Johan brought out his assault rifle, which he had equipped with a grenade launcher. "Looks like we've got one hell of a welcoming committee." He said.

"I'm going to kill these cheap imitations." Gavin growled, but then he noticed that Pele's soul started to try going towards the one that looked like her. "But leave the Pele one. I think that could be the real Pele."

"Let's knock that one out, then." Katerina decided.

"Alright, let's go!" The boy yelled as he charged forward, jumping in the air and bicycle kicking the clone of Romano. The clone staggered and tried to recover, but Gavin wouldn't have it. He blitzed the clone and gave it several punches to the face. As the clone fell to its knees, the pseudo vampire used his smoke to restrain him before slicing off his arms, legs, and then ending it by shoving his hand through the man's chest, clutching the mutant clone's no longer beating heart.

"Cheap copy." The boy said with disdain before unsheathing Bloodfallen and stabbing the Marcus clone in the heart, who tried to sneak up behind him, without even looking. "Critical Thrust." He said coldly.

With Johan, he had engaged Bast's clone. Normally, a person would hesitate under such conditions, but Johan wasn't a normal person. He fought the imitation of his feline friend with a look of anger on his face, enraged that HYDRA dared to insult his friend in such a way. The clone slashed at his chest, but Johan had already turned off his pain receptors, so the attack was fruitless. With a savage right hook followed by a sparta kick, he knocked down the clone before pulling out his shotgun and then shoved the barrel of the gun into her mouth and glaring at her.

"Suck on this, you soulless plagiarized bitch!" He growled before shooting a shell of buckshot through her mouth. The angry man put his shotgun back in its holster before taking a swig of his Irish coffee. "Second rate clones. They'll never beat the originals." He said with a scowl.

Katerina was engaged with Pele's reanimated body and Kai's clone, and she was conflicted because even if one of them was a clone and both were basically walking corpses, they were still children.

'_I don't know what to do!' _She yelled in her head. That was when the Kai clone attacked her and out of reflex she slammed her fist into her face and the force snapped the clone's neck, killing it instantly. And she finally was able to subdue Pele and remove the implant, stopping her from being reanimated and left her in a vegetative state.

"Vampyr, I've subdued the original! Now's as good a time as any to work your magic!" She called.

"In a minute!" He called back as he faced the Chelsea clone. "I still have to slay a weak imitation of a Dragon."

Right on cue, Johan rushed to assist him. He fired a burst of bullets at the clone to distract her and give Gavin an opening.

The Chelsea clone went dragon and breathed fire at him, but Gavin jumped back and then moved faster than Quicksilver at top speed, slashing the Dragon with his sword and appearing behind her and then sheathed his sword before blood spewed from thousands of cuts. "Ten thousand Godspeed slashes!" He said as the dragon behind him fell to the ground, dead. Gavin sighed as he took out the soul of Pele and went to Katerina, spitting on the corpse of the Chelsea clone as he did.

"About time! Come on, put it in!" Katerina told him.

"Keep your head on your shoulders, would ya? I'm on it." He retorted as he let Pele's soul return to her body. The girl immediately gasped as she woke up, but slowly fell unconscious again due to the strain. Katerina picked her up and brought her to the plane, and Johan brought Rowner down and knelt him in front of the base.

"Now you're going to watch as everything you worked for disappears." The man said as he forced the 'doctor' to look as Gavin held out his arms and his smoke went inside the base for several minutes. "This. Ends. Here." He added.

"Releasing control art seals to level one…" He sighed before opening his eyes again. "I will never forget the pain Chelsea and the others had suffered... And now, this world shall know... Pain." The pseudo vampire said before he pushed his arms out to the side. "Almighty _PUSH_!" He yelled.

Outside the base, the Sever siblings and Rowner jumped in surprise when the base suddenly exploded outwards due to an unseen force. After this, it just collapsed on itself as Gavin reformed in front of them with his arms folded.

Rowner looked at the devastation of his life's work in utter shock and just stared aimlessly, he was utterly broken. The two siblings, meanwhile, were silently cheering for the complete destruction of HYDRA's last base, and were glad that they had a hand in it all.

Their celebration was cut short when a giant green octopus tentacled robot with a skull started stomping towards them and towered over wreckage of the base. The skull's mouth opened and a ramp descended from it, which was followed by Barons Zemo and Strucker walking down the ramp followed by the man himself, Johan Schmitt, the Red Skull.

As soon as they made it to the ground, the leader of HYDRA glared at them. "Do you fools have any idea what you've done?!" He growled.

"Yeah, we broke HYDRA's entire skeleton." Katerina shot back with a shrug.

"And we're going to finish the job." Gavin said, his collar covering the smirk on his face as he spoke, leaving the leaders of the organization to only see his condescending gaze.

"You think you can kill us?" Strucker asked arrogantly.

"I don't think, I know." Gavin said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the Eye of Anubis. "Recognize this?" He asked smuggly.

"The Eye of Anubis?! How?!" Zemo gasped.

"Got it after we raided your base in Egypt, you dumbass. I haven't gotten the chance to test it out yet, but let's see what happens." The boy grinned. He then took the Eye and put it on his forehead and roared as it fused itself to said area. The boy looked at the three men and then at Johan. "Omni, let Skull borrow the Tesseract, I wanna at least give him a fair fight." He told him. The green streaked man looked at him with a raised eyebrow before shrugging.

"Don't make me regret it." He told the boy before tossing the Tesseract at Red Skull. The man looked at it and smiled evilly.

"Zis was your final mistake!" The man yelled as he slammed the cube into his chest and then was surrounded by blue light as cosmic energy flowed from him.

"If I'm remembering correctly, there were exactly 16, 998, 666, 817 souls that were lost at all your bases, right? Let's take a quick census, shall we?!" The pseudo vampire yelled as the Eye of Anubis glowed and all around the world all the souls of the dead from the bases, victim or otherwise flew towards Antarctica towards him. "And before you ask: YES! THIS _IS_ A JOJO REFERENCE!" The boy laughed as he struck a pose and started swallowing all of the incoming souls. Johan and Katerina facepalmed at that.

'_We weren't going to ask.' _They both thought. As soon as the boy finished feasting on the souls he glowed in an unnatural blood red aura.

"Now, Cosmic Red Skull, are you ready to fight a _real_ god?" Gavin asked the man in front of him as the ice below their feet cracked at the force of their power.

"Show me vhat you're made of, boy!" The man yelled. With that, they charged at each other and the shockwave generated by their clash blew away the snow, revealing the ice underneath. Punches, kicks and everything in between were thrown and their battle shook the earth below them and caused mini earthquakes to occur.

Johan and Katerina meanwhile faced off against Strucker and Zemo. "Remember, Vampyr and Dracula's plan requires that one of these guys stays alive." Johan reminded his sister while loading his pistols and playing into their ruse.

"Right." Katerina replied, eldritch energy in her hands.

"So it's true, Dracula really is trying to stir up old grudges." Zemo growled.

"Damn right he is, and we're helping him out. It's a bad day to be in HYDRA for you guys right now." Johan said with a smirk.

Meanwhile with Gavin and Skull, the fight was going about as well as Super Saiyan Goku vs Lord Beerus. Skull's punches and kicks were effortlessly blocked by the back of Gavin's hand while the pseudo vampire's attacks kept doing critical damage, reason why? Mystic powers like what Gavin had with him by using the Eye of Anubis had a distinct advantage over cosmic powers such as the Red Skull's Tesseract powerup.

"Is this seriously all you can do?! Just how weak are you?!" The boy yelled as he punched the man down towards the ground, forming a crater from the impact. The leader of HYDRA grunted from the impact before he got up and glared at Gavin.

"I am the only superior mind in this world! All will bow to me!" He yelled as he launched himself at the boy. Gavin only glared at him as tendrils of his smoke stopped the man dead in his tracks.

"If you think that, then you're dumber than I thought you were." The horror fan said before he reached his hand into Skulls chest and ripped the Tesseract out of his armor. As the boy let him fall he held out the cube and made it glow. "Saiyanara, mother fucker." He said before blasting the Red Skull with the cube's energy and vaporized him.

Meanwhile with the siblings, they were still fighting Zemo and Strucker. Right now Katerina had Strucker in a headlock, and Johan had Zemo pinned down on the cold ground.

"Alright, now to decide which one of you dies." The green eyed man mused. He then looked at Strucker. "... Sis, would you please?" He asked her. Without a word, Katerina snapped Strucker's neck as Gavin walked up to them, Tesseract in hand.

"And with that, our work is finished." The boy said as his aura disappeared and he removed the Eye of Anubis from his forehead.

"It's been one hell of a ride, that's for sure." Johan commented.

"Oh yeah. No buts about it." Katerina agreed with a nod. With that they threw Zemo on the HYDRA walker and let him go before boarding the plane with Rowner and the still unconscious Pele.

But as they flew back to Bayville….

-_Xavier Institute-_

Chelsea answered her phone after she got an email from Gavin about what all had just happened an hour after they left and now had answered the phone when he called her.

"_Say it."_ Came the smug voice of Gavin over the phone.

"Fuck you." The blondie retorted.

"_After you say it." _The boy pressed.

"Why should I have to? As I recall, I told you not to go in the first place." The Dragoness stated curtly.

"_But it still turned out amazingly in the end." _Was Gavin's comeback.

"You're really going to force me on this?" She asked in irritation.

"_I'm at half mast. I __**need **__to hear this." _Gavin said, and unseen to Chelsea, the Sever siblings were looking at him oddly.

"Fine! YOU WERE RIGHT!" She confessed in frustration, causing Gavin to let out a pleased growl on his end. Chelsea's face contorted with rage as she glared at the phone. "_JUMP UP YOUR OWN ASS AND DIE!"_ She yelled as she hung up.

"Ahhhhh. Houston, we have _no_ problems…" The boy sighed as he flopped back in his seat and finally relaxed after their long journey.

The Vampyr's Vendetta… Was finally settled.

**ThermalsniperN7: Well that takes care of that fiasco. Wonder what's gonna happen when Chelsea gets her claws on Rowner…**

**Dragon Emperor0: Oh **_**trust **_**me, you will **_**love **_**what happens to him. And next chapter, we'll be seeing everyone go to the Sadie Hawkins dance, I wonder if Rogue will ask Gavin to it?**

**ThermalsniperN7: I do wonder if that will happen. Let's wait and see, shall we?**

**Dragon Emperor0: And Laura is out on the loose now. Can't wait to see how she'll react to having Chelsea as a stepmom.**

**ThermalsniperN7: That's gonna be hectic. Anyway, see you guys next chapter!**


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41: I Had (The Time Of My Life).**

Gavin was slowly walking back to the Institute with his new companions: Johan, Katerina, Romano and Marcus not far behind him. The latter two men were still groggy because of it being early morning and because the trio had woken them up at their hotel.

"Come on you two, hustle up! The Institute's right this way!" He called to two men, Marcus adjusting the duffel bag over his shoulder. The bag itself contained the many name tags, ID badges, subject dog tags, etc. of the HYDRA soldiers, staff and prisoners that the pseudo vampire either killed or set free.

Gavin continued forward as he pulled the brim of his fedora down, adjusting his grip on the body bag he had on his shoulders, which apparently was still squirming. As they finally reached the Institute, he buzzed the doorbell.

"Honey, I'm home!" He called into the speaker as it buzzed to life.

Scott's voice rang out from the other end. _"Gavin? Is that you, man?"_

"The one and only." The pseudo vampire said. "Mind letting me in? I have a few new friends with me." Within moments the doors were opened by Jean, with Rogue standing close behind her.

"Gavin!" The southern girl snapped, stepping out from behind the redhead, pulling the Japanese American boy in by the collar with one hand while the other was raised in a fist. "You idiot! Give me a good reason to not punch your lights out for walking out on us!"

"Well for one, I know you all missed me." He grinned at her. "And two, I need to deliver this package to someone here." He jostled the body bag over his shoulder, making its contents wriggle and groan.

"What in the world.,.?" She drawled, looking at the bag with disgust and shock. "But, that's beside the point. We thought you were kidnapped or somethin'!"

"Glad to know I had been missed so much." He joked with a confident grin.

"Gavin, who are these people?" Jean said cautiously as she looked at the four people who stood silently behind him.

"These are a few friends of a friend, Marcus, and Romano. I found them on my mission to destroy HYDRA." Gavin said before gesturing to the other two siblings. "And these are the Sever siblings."

"Seriously?" Both girls asked.

"But, we can get to my disappearance later." The boy said cooly, trying to evade the harassing questions he knew would follow. "Where's Chelsea?"

As if on cue the dragoness came storming out of the second level hallway to the stairs, followed by an equally pissed looking Logan. "I told you, you stupid son of a bitch if you EVER went after HYDRA I would-!" Her yelling fell silent and she froze when she saw the two men behind Gavin. Her face turned pale as if she had seen a ghost.

Gavin smiled up at her. "Hey, Marks. You miss me?!"

Logan sniffed the air letting out a growl before realizing the reaction his girlfriend had. "Chels, you good?"

She ignored them both, eyes locked on the two strangers. One of them, the man her age with Latin features stepped forward looking at her intently before the corner of his lips pulled into the slightest smile. "Largata..." He said in a quiet, gruff voice.

Chelsea began to come down the stairs slowly, holding onto the rail as if the world would slip away if she let go. She finally came to the bottom, carefully approaching the man. "I thought I told you to never call me that."

"I wanted to see if the punk I knew was still in you." He quipped. A smile spread across her face, as she threw her arms around his shoulders. "Romano! Oh my fucking god I can't believe- How?!" She grasped his arms looking over his eyes full of joy.

"I'm not the only one, hermana." He said, stepping aside to reveal the other man. Dark rings laid under his golden eyes and he slouched against the doorframe for support. Chelsea stepped back for a moment, examining him. She looked him up and down as if evaluating him. Roman watched her as she did this, then placed a hand on her shoulder. "I assure you. It's him."

She looked between the two men like she was trying to make sure both were actually there. "M-Marcus?"

The golden-eyed man in the door looked up at her as she approached him, placing a hand on his cheek. "Do you remember?"

"How could I forget, Blondie?" His voice was raspy like it wasn't used often. But his eyes shined with undeniable excitement.

"Holy..." The dragoness didn't finish her sentence before she grasped on to him. Marcus, although taken aback, cautiously reciprocates the gesture, placing his lips on her forehead. "I-I thought you were dead! I don't understand we saw you gunned down, bloody as all hell!"

He smiled down at her. "You know I'm too stubborn to die."

***Sknit* **

"This is all sickening sweet and all," Everyone's attention turned to Logan, who looked both very uncomfortable, and angrier than before. "But you mind telling me what HYDRA scum is doing in our house, and why for god's sake my girl is hanging onto one of their necks?!"

"Whoa there, Logan, down boy." Gavin said getting in between the clawed mutant and the three others. "They're old friends of Chelsea and Bast, and they're like seriously close is all." He then turned back to Chelsea and Marcus who had separated from their hug. "And besides you just heard her say that she thought one of them was dead, so, cut her some slack okay?"

Logan glared at him for a moment before slowly lowering his claws and sheathing them, making everyone breath a sigh of relief. "Fine." He growled before glaring at his girlfriend. "But I expect at least some sort of explanation."

"You got it." The Dragoness nodded.

Bast, who was mostly quiet through the whole ordeal, finally couldn't take it anymore and just ran to the three old friends and tackled them in a hug. "Oh my god! I thought I'd never be able to see you guys again!" She cried as tears streamed down her face, the four joining in a group hug. Making Marcus drop the bag he was carrying with an audible 'thump'

"Trust me, the feeling's mutual, kitten." Romano sighed as he stroked her hair before both men looked at Gavin. "But you can thank the Vampiro and his friends for that."

Gavin chuckled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his neck while his face was the shade of a petunia. "Aw shucks guys, stop. You're making me blush!" He chuckled, accidentally dropping the body bag onto the floor of the Institute and a loud groan could be heard from it.

Everyone then turned their attention to said bag. "Um, is it just me, or did that bag just, like, groan?" Kitty asked, her nose furrowed in disgust.

"Nope, you're right Kitty." Gavin said, kicking the side of the body bag, making it groan louder this time. "This is a gift for you survivors of HYDRA, especially for you, Chelsea." He grinned, hoisting the bag up and then unzipping the top, letting the person inside fall to the ground. The man was maybe in his late fifties, with graying black hair, and a goatee. He looked awful, with a black eye and multiple wounds on his face calloused over with bloody scabs. "Say hello to Victor Rowner."

Chelsea and Bast stepped back, a look of horror on their faces for a brief moment. "Gavin, what the hell is that monster doing here?!" Chelsea snarled as she stepped in front of Bast, scales rippling across her skin as her eyes slitted like snakes.

"He's here for justice. He mutilated and tortured you four, and many others. I think it's fitting that he gets a taste of his own medicine." Gavin states as he glared at the man who looked up in shock at the two women, struggling against his gag.

Logan approached the boy, paying no attention to the man on the floor as he did so. "This completely goes against the rules of the Institute, what the hell were you thinking promoting such actions in front of everyone?!"

"Please, Wolverine. Out of all people you're not one to talk about rules and the immorality of inflicting pain." Gavin growled, before looking back up at his female mentor. "So Chelsea. What would you like to do with him?"

Chelsea looked at the gagged man and cracked her knuckles. "Oh I know _exactly _what I'm gonna do with him." She grinned.

It was at this point that Johan spoke up. "Hey Gavin, I just realized we seem to be missing one of your friends." He said, getting everyone to turn to him.

"Wait, Johan?" Bast asked him. "You work for SHIELD?"

"Yep, and so does my little sister over here. Say hi to everyone, lil' sis." He replied before urging his sister to greet everyone.

"Hey gang, what's up?" She greeted casually with a two finger salute.

Everyone waved before Kai spoke up. "Who's the other friend you're talking about?" She asked.

Johan dialed his phone and spoke with someone else on the other line for a minute or two before putting it on speaker.

"_Hello? Who's calling?" _Pele's voice asked. The second her voice reached Kai's ears, the girl froze with wide eyes before approaching the phone.

"P-P-P-Pele?" The girl asked warily.

"_Kai! Oh hey lil sis! How is everything? No wait, don't tell me, you're probably in too much shock right now. Seriously guys, couldn't you have waited until after I finished recovering? I wanted to do this in person." _Was the lava girl's reply.

"Sorry. We couldn't wait. Our bad." Gavin said sheepishly.

"How are you alive?!" Chelsea asked.

"_Apparently my soul never left that pile of rubble and HYDRA had reanimated my body to make it their toy soldier. Gavin was able to put it back after Johan broke the chip that reanimated me." _Pele explained.

Bast looked at Johan before she threw her arms around him. "You are the best man I've ever met." She told him with a smile as tears rolled down her face. The man just chuckled before she hugged her back.

"Hey, don't sell Gavin short. He did the rest of the work." He said with a smile as he continued hugging her.

"You're welcome." The pseudo vampire smiled.

"Where're you now?" Bast asked her formerly deceased friend.

"_SHIELD HQ, the doctors here are helping me recover."_ The girl replied.

"Oh." The cat woman nodded.

"_Well, I'll see you guys when I'm recovered, bye!" _Pele said before hanging up.

"Gavin." Xavier said to the pseudo vampire. "I'd like a word with you and Mr. and Ms. Sever in my office please." He told them with a stern look on his face)

(Later)

In the forest outside the Institute, Chelsea dropped Rowner on the ground, making him groan and cough through his gag. "Marcus. Take out his gag. Shatter his eardrum if he tries anything." She ordered her comrade as she shifted back to her human form.

The brown hair man did so without much protest from the ex-scientist in front of him. Rowner spat out a clump of blood on the ground once his mouth was free. "You! Agent! Untie me!" He attempted to command, although the fear was evident in how his voice shook.

"I'm not under your control anymore, you demented butcher." Marcus said coldly, kicking the man in the stomach.

Rowner sputtered and gasped for air as the four mutants surrounded him, once he opened his eyes, a twisted grin came to his face. "Ah, the thorns in my side have finally returned. You, the Mexican." He looked directly at Romano. "You blinded half a dozen guards and caused so many light outages you cost us more in damages than what you cost to keep alive. But my higher ups just HAD to have you in our special forces. thought you'd be useful." He then shot a glance of malice at Marcus. "YOU. You injured more of my men than nearly any other subject. You were a machine of rage and danger. But machines are so easy to control…" His sadistic grin came back to his face. "Pump you with enough sedative, and you were all ours. Mix it with nicotine and well, you were begging for us to give it to you, and would do anything for us."

His gaze then moved to Bast. "I hardly remember you. Were you one of our creations? You look to be a little too old to be a product of the breeding program?" He tried to move around to face Chelsea and his eyes lit up. "And you, my darling dear. My favorite test subject. You were something else… You all created quite the problem for me all those years ago."

"Sorry to cause you so much trouble. But, after all these years," Bast mimicked with a hiss coming forward, grasping Rowner's jaw and digging her claws into his cheeks, drawing blood. "The thought of finally giving you what you deserved never left our minds."

"Where do we start?" Romano asked aloud, his eyes starting to glow with a white hue.

"Wherever you like." Chelsea said in a cold hushed tone. "But Roman, leave him with SOME vision."

Through the blood and the pain, Rowner started to let out a distorted chuckle. "You pathetic creatures... you don't realize what I've done for you, for the new world order."

"You did nothing for us." Chelsea spat taking a step towards him. "You killed, mutilated, tortured, and molested children who had no way of protecting ourselves."

"Oh please, my little girl. I made you. I made you into the weapons and killers you are today." He sneered. "Out of all these whelps, you caused the most trouble for me. There were so many more powerful than you, more valuable than you. But, you always had to be such a prima donna. Had to be the leader. Had to try to get everyone's attention."

Chelsea grabbing him by the collar hoisting him up. "I never tried. You just were so fucking obsessed with me that's all you saw, all you focused on. Is there even a shred of humanity left in you to see the pain you caused in us, in me?!" She growled.

"I saw a lot of things in you." He spat, looking at her nonchalantly. "I saw the potential in your powers. You are a creature of chaos, not meant to be alive." Her nostrils flared at the comment, only provoking the mad doctor's voracious speech. "But with the right person in charge that chaos could be controlled, channeled, and made into a beautiful weapon. But that isn't why I was "obsessed with you", as you put it. YOU were the chance I had to rewrite what I had let go so long ago. My whore of an ex-wife, you are so much like her…" He tried to reach up and touch her face, but his wrist was caught by the dragoness's tail, which wrapped around his wrist, pulling it from its socket. Rowner wailed in pain, as he was thrown to the ground, cradling his hand.

"I'm not some fucking ghost from a failed marriage." Chelsea said, bending down to his level as her eyes turned draconic and her wings grew out from behind her. "I'm your fucking worst nightmare."

"Which is why I took so much glee in giving a bitch like you a lesson." Rowner grunted, trying to back away. "You never knew boundaries, when you'd take shit too far. And my dear, how I relished every second I got to torture you, put a bitch like you in her place. Do you remember when I took half of your liver?"

In a flash the Dragoness was on top of him, her knee on his chest to force the air out of him "Enough!"

"Or what about the time I put you in with Kuo? You were so wiped from that little session you never even tried to stop me when I-"

"ENOUGH!" She began pressing her knee into his throat making him choke on his words.

"But you know what? I saw the success of our breeding program in you, the girl who could recover from anything. It didn't matter if we knocked you up with the most ferocious fetus we could create, you'd recover from any damage. Do you know what I really wished I would have done? I wish that we finished that hormone treatment of yours, wiped your brain senseless. And more than anything, I wished I could have evened the odds of producing a human or mutant offspring, given you MY genes. What do you think about that my dear?"

"I think you should shut up." The blonde growled. "Romano?"

Romano extended a hand and he started pulsing Power through them, a bright light surrounding the area, everyone else covered their eyes as Rowner could only roll around on the ground in agony, unable to cover his eyes as he screamed in pain, his eyes on the verge of burning out of his skull.

"That's for trying to turn me into a drone, Gringo." He snapped.

Satisfied with his work, Romano stepped away and Marcus was next the man grabbed the scientist by the side of his head and then started to make him quake with molecular energy coursing through his brain.

"You should have left me alone!" He growled, throwing the man down as his nose bled from a minor concussion caused by the pulses.

Next was Bast, who deployed her claws and started tearing into the man's flesh like a feral animal, tears streaming from her eyes and she screamed in rage. After she finished she then kicked him in the face, making him fall back.

"That was for Kai." She hissed angrily, cat tail's fur on end.

Rowner Just kept coughing up blood as he tried to stay conscious. His body torn and bleeding out with every second that passed. He tried to send out a string of curses at the group through his now shattered teeth as he leaned up against a tree, but was stopped when Chelsea knelt in front of him and put a finger to his lips, her eyes turning draconic as she put on a fake seductive face.

"Shh shh shh shh shhh." She told him as he struggled to breath through the blood in his throat. "This is going to hurt, a lot, any last words, you pathetic and hopeless, perverted psychopath?" She got no reply as she only received incoherent gurgling. "Thought so." She said. "Now let me finally give you what you wanted so goddamn badly."

The Dragoness then slowly grasped the back of his head and pressed her lips to his as she sent a small stream of fire into his mouth and throat, scorching it from the inside and causing him to grasp it in agony as he slowly started to lose his grip on his life. Though this moment was short lived as Chelsea then transformed into her Dragon form and then chomped down on the top half of his torso, and with a few large movements of her head, swallowed the man whole.

Chelsea growled happily as she licked her dragon lips in satisfaction. Oh, it felt _good._

"Finally…" Romano panted as he slumped to the grass. "After all these years, we've finally gotten the justice we deserve." He breathed.

"Yeah. And with Pele back, the whole gang's back together." Marcus nodded.

"I've never felt more at peace than I do right now." Bast breathed, feeling a large sense of relief flowing through her being.

"You said it." Chelsea nodded as she turned back to normal. It was true, at long last, they could finally feel at ease, their pasts… Were finally behind them.

(A few days later)

Pele had finally joined the Institute as did Romano and Marcus, the former two had become the Institute's maintenance man and full time cook respectively, and on top of that, Beast had managed to help Pele get her metal arm turned into a non-hydra variation.

Amongst other changes was that they also had gone to counseling with Emma Frost, and as such were much better off mentally speaking, and Marcus had also started going to detox and drugs anonymous meetings as well, though his battle with addiction was far from over.

As for the Sever siblings, Johan and Katerina had both been reassigned to Bayville to help keep an eye on things by Fury, so the Institute saw a lot more of them. Bast certainly didn't seem to mind this arrangement, or Johan, for that matter. In regards to Katerina herself, the Professor wanted to get some practical data on her mutant abilities, but she said she had wanted to wait for a while so she could settle into Bayville. Part of that actually involved going on a couple dates with Romano.

As for Gavin? The poor boy had to do a slew of catch up work, had a weekend's work of detention, and on top of that had to commit to two weeks probation. It was honestly a mess, but Xavier was willing to shorten it to a few days probation if Gavin agreed to letting him see just what went down.

In fact that was what they were doing right now. Gavin was in Xavier's office with said telepath peering inside the boy's mind at the memories of his Vendetta. And when he finished, he was filled with conflicting emotions.

"I… Do not know how to respond to this…" He said finally.

"That doesn't surprise me. My vendetta was practically a war, so it's natural for it to be bloody." Gavin said evenly.

"But you seemed to enjoy it. That is not the reaction of a sane person." The man stated.

"Professor, I think we both already know that I was _never _sane and _will never be_ sane. It's just how I am." The pseudo vampire stated.

"I suppose that's undeniable." The man said with a sigh. "Still… Never in all my years did I suspect that I would learn of a Lovecraftian mutant. A truly unexpected, and somewhat horrifying, discovery." He mused with a small shiver as he recalled the image of Katerina's Cthulhu form.

"True." The boy shrugged. "So… Three days probation then?" He asked to clarify.

"Yes." The man nodded as the boy got up and left.

Later on, the horror aficionado was sitting on the couch and was about to watch Dirty Dancing when Rogue came in with some popcorn and a couple drinks.

"Mind Ii Ah joined you?" She asked.

"Take a seat." The boy replied as he gestured to the open seat next to him. As the movie started to play, Gavin smirked as Patrick Swaisi came on screen, the man was one of his favorite actors. The two started to share the popcorn when the pseudo vampire's hand and Rogue's ungloved hand accidentally touched while reaching for some of the buttery snack.

The two looked at each other and blushed before retracting their respective hands. "S-sorry." Gavin apologized with a stutter.

"My bad." The Southern girl said. After a moment of awkward silence and watching the movie again and eating their snacks without incident, she spoke again. "So… Are you excited for the dance this weekend?" She asked.

"Yeah. I managed to get my probation shortened to three days, so I'll be free this weekend." He replied with a nod.

"That's good… So, has anyone asked you yet?" She questioned.

"Nope. No one has asked me at all." HYDRA's nightmare fuel replied with a sigh.

Rogue was silent for a moment, turning back to the screen and taking a sip of her drink. "Well, Ah don't have a date either. Ah don't suppose, you'd mind goin' with me?"

Gavin almost choked on his popcorn when he heard her basically ask him out. Taking a drink to clear his throat, he gave a loud cough.

"Wait, seriously?" He asked in shock. "_You _wanna go to the dance, with _me_?"

"Well, no one else is asking us, and you're immune to mah powers. You feel like the best pick for me." She replied with a shrug.

"Yeah... I guess I was just surprised because. To be honest, no one's ever asked me out to dances… _Ever_, I was always the kid most girls voided. Like the plague." The boy said, slumping a bit as he ate more popcorn. Rogue looked at him sadly before she pulled him into a hug, much to his surprise.

"Not anymore you're not." She said quietly into his ear. The horror fan couldn't help but smile as the girl let him lay his head on her lap while they watched the rest of the movie. It really did make him feel better.

(Later)

Everyone was down in the danger room for a test Kurt was performing on a device Forge had made, and they were about to test it out.

"Ready, Kurt?" Forge asked.

"Vhat is this thing supposed to do, exactly?" He asked.

"According to what I'm able to deduce from the sulfuric gas your teleportation leaves behind, I have reason to believe that you pass through another dimension when you teleport." David Xanatos stated, he too had made a habit of stopping by on occasion to keep up with the Institute, especially when something that caught his interest came up.

"And this device will slow you down just long enough for us to get some readings. Once we're through you'll be able to teleport all over the globe!" Forge added.

"That's probably gonna be helpful." Johan noted.

"No kidding." Katerina added.

"You ready, Kurt?" Forge asked again.

"About as ready as I can be." The blue boy replied as he secured his mask.

"Break a leg, fuzz ball!" Lance called as the boy got ready.

"Head for my old lab at school. That would be a good place to exit at since no one will be there to see you appear." The tech genius instructed, getting a nod in return.

With that the boy disappeared and around four minutes later, he reappeared after telling them it was a success.

"Vow! You von't believe what I saw in there!" The boy said as he jumped up and down in excitement.

"Oh this I gotta hear." Gavin said as the boy started explaining what he saw.

The next day, Kurt was going to do the test again and had also managed to get a date to the dance with his kinda crush, a girl named Amanda, while Kitty had asked Lance to the dance.

Everyone was looking at the screen that played the video footage of the dimension Kurt passed through and it was met with… Varying degrees of shock or surprise.

"And that thing actually exists?" Pele asked in disbelief.

"So it would seem." Devin nodded with wide eyes.

"Are those _teeth?!_" Evan asked warily.

"Oh I _so _wanna go a few rounds with that thing!" Gavin smirked wildly.

"Are you nuts?! No way, not after that shit you pulled in Brazil." Chelsea snapped while smacking the boy on the back of the head.

"You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?" The boy questioned.

"She wouldn't be an older sister if she did let you live it down." Lance joked with a smirk.

"I'll be sure to go with ya the next time for safety." Logan told the still shaking Kurt.

"Still doesn't make me feel any better…" The blue mutant said nervously.

(Later)

At school after the big revelation of the creatures, Kurt was now worrying about what to do about dancing with Amanda since his holo watch didn't give him five physical fingers, though Scott was able to convince him to just wear gloves.

Devin, meanwhile, was sitting with Gavin, Rogue and Risty when Roxy came up to him, which caused the boy to get the same nervous feeling he kept getting around her.

"Hey Devin, do you have a date to the dance yet?" She asked him.

"No. Why?" He asked, managing to keep himself from stuttering.

"Well…" She smiled as she slid in next to him, getting real close, her braid flipping over to the right side of his neck as she leaned on him. "Because I was hoping you'd go with me." She told him.

The liquid metal user gulped nervously as she looked at him with her pearly white eyes. "Uh… Well… I mean if you're asking, I guess we could go together."

The scorpion themed girl smiled as she kissed his cheek. "Alright then, it's a date." She smiled as she left.

"You _sure _you two aren't dating, mate?" Risty asked curiously.

"Positive." Devin managed to reply with a groan.

After school everyone was in the danger room again and Wolverine was going to be going with Kurt on this next trip, for his safety. Gavin still made it clear that he wanted a piece of the action, but after Chelsea threatened to sit on him while in dragon form, he shut up.

This trip was longer than before and by the time Logan and Kurt got back, the former was wounded and the latter was scared to death.

"No more! I am _never _teleporting again!" The blue mutant exclaimed fearfully.

"Kurt, snap out of it!" Chelsea snapped, slapping him across the face. "You move too fast for those things to get to you, remember? Stop worrying about something that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things." She told him before helping Logan up as his wound healed. "You okay?" She asked.

"I'll live." He replied as the wound closed. Though the blonde's tender tone towards the man got a sigh from Marcus, who still was trying to come to grips with his blonde friend moving on.

'_I'll need to clear things up with her, sooner or later.' _He thought.

Kurt, meanwhile, managed to pull himself together as Forge and Xanatos apologized for having put the boy through such a mess.

"I apologize, Kurt, I only wished to conduct these tests for your benefit." Xanatos told him.

"Yeah me too, sorry man." Forge nodded.

"Any chance they coulda been followed?" Gavin asked as he helped Kurt treat his wounds.

"Not unless his dimensional gates never closed fully, but the odds of that being the case are slim to none." The young tech expert replied.

"About 20 to 80 percent at the most." Xanatos added.

"Let's hope it doesn't happen." Xavier nodded.

(The next night)

The night of the dance everyone was in formal clothes and dancing. And they also all had their dates with them. Kurt was dancing with his date Amanda, Kitty was slow dancing with Lance, Devin was with Roxy, and Jean was standing off to the side while Duncan was talking to his friends and Scott was dancing with his date.

"You jealous?" Risty asked the redhead.

"A little bit." She sighed. "Sometimes I feel like he doesn't actually care about me." She admitted.

"Ah cheer up, I'm sure he'll come around." The British girl told her before Rogue and Gavin walked in. "Ooooh, Rogue certainly is looking nice."

Said girl was currently wearing a purple sports bra underneath an orange version of her usual translucent shirt, a red lycra skirt with a black biker belt, long black gloves, and pair of red pants, black heeled boots and lastly the choker Gavin got her for Christmas.

Gavin, meanwhile, was wearing a black short sleeved shirt, black pants, a black formal jacket, and some black shoes. His long hair going all the way down to the back of his upper thighs.

"You think I should get a haircut?" He asked Rogue as they got into a slow dancing rhythm.

"Ah dunno. You'd make an awesome Alucard if you got a full outfit." She replied.

"Pretty sure my costume covers that." He smiled. That was when I Had (The Time Of My Life) started to play, apparently someone had requested it. "... Wanna show these prudes how to _really _dance?"

"You know it." The southern belle replied with a grin. The two started quickly swaying to the music as it started to kick up speed, and everyone gave them the dance floor to watch. Gavin spun the girl around twice before quickly dipping her and then they started a shuffle dance.

"Are they… Doing a Dirty Dancing routine?" Kitty asked Lance.

"Looks like it. Wait, you've seen that movie?" He asked in surprise.

"Yeah. It has good dance scenes that I like." She replied with a shrug. Lance couldn't help but blush as several ideas popped into his head.

Meanwhile, both Scott and Jean watched in shock as Gavin twirled Rogue around and the girl wrapped her arms around his neck, passion being very much visible in their eyes as they danced.

"Wow… They've got that routine down to a T." The shaded teen commented with wide eyes.

"They really do." The redhead nodded. "But, don't you think that it looks like they-never mind." She said dismissively, deciding not to dwell on the amorous gazes the pair seemed to share.

Gavin then spun Rogue into the center of the floor and then everyone else started to join him in dancing up to her, spinning on his knees until he reached her and catching her in his arms and lifting her into the air with his hands on her waist, before spinning her around and everyone started copying them.

Principal Kelly watched the entire ordeal with a sigh of exasperation. He probably should have seen something like this coming. As the dance slowly came to an end, the pseudo vampire and Southern Belle both held each other as they looked at each other with half lidded eyes before they slowly started to move closer and closer. Their lips were just about to touch when-

_**FLASH **_

A portal opened right in the middle of the dance floor, and three of the 'Devil Raptors' popped out of it, causing Gavin and Rogue's 'almost kiss' to be interrupted by a mental cold shower.

'_I am gonna turn those raptors into a bloody mess!' _Gavin thought angrily. Things were going so well and they just _had _to ruin it!

Rogue, meanwhile, was equal parts embarrassed and furious. Though she didn't understand why about the second part. '_Right as we were about to- Wait, am Ah actually mad that they stopped me from kissing Gavin? What's that all about?' _She thought.

Their thoughts were interrupted by one of the raptors charging at them, maw wide open, causing all the other students to scatter in fear.

Once the view was clear, Gavin used smoke tendrils to catch the creature and slammed it into the floor. "_That _was for ruining our dance finale!" He growled at the creature as he stomped on its snout.

Rogue glared at one of the raptors, which looked back at her with hunger in its eyes. It roared and charged at its intended prey, only for her to leap to the side and crash into the wall, dazing it.

The third was easily subdued by Scott's blasts, and then all three disappeared after a blue beam shot them. Everyone turned around and saw Forge standing there with his Middleverse projector.

"Uh, that's not gonna send anyone to the Middleverse, is it?" Gavin asked warily.

"No, just send these guys back where they came from. Come on, we gotta close those portals before more get through!" The young man said as they all followed him, save Kurt who had disappeared with Amanda in the confusion.

(Later)

Rogue and Gavin were walking home. After everything was done, they were now just ready to go home.

"What a mess." The horror fan sighed.

"Got it in one. Ah can't believe that happened when it did." His friend replied with her own sigh.

"Yeah… Hey, about that, sorry if I got carried away. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again." He told her, referring to their almost kiss.

"No no, don't apologize… Ah honestly don't think Ah would have minded if you did." She responded honestly.

Gavin looked away with slight nervousness. Was she being serious? He felt like he was gonna faint! "D-do you mean it?" He asked as they reached the Institute gates.

After a moment, the auburn haired girl nodded. "Yeah, Ah am." She nodded.

"... Do you wanna… Maybe try? Ya know, just to see how it feels?" The pseudo vampire asked.

Rogue looked at him with a blush. "Um… S-s-sure." She stuttered nervously.

Gathering up every bit of courage he had, Gavin took Rogue into his arms and brought her closer as she stood on her toes to reach him and he leaned down with her wrapping her arms around his neck, and a second later: their lips finally met.

The reaction was almost instantaneous, both pulling each other closer as they kept kissing, and unbeknownst to them, someone was watching.

Risty was just around the corner and on her back she had a bundle in a baby back strap. Seconds later she slowly turned into Mystique and the little infant inside the baby backpack popped his head out, revealing it was Damian.

"That's your Daddy, Damian. Just a few more days and you'll be going to live with him. Are you excited?" The shapeshifter asked her son happily as she watched the two slowly separate and blush, agreeing not to talk about it.

"Da da, da da!" The infant babbled happily at the sight of his father.

"That's right, Damian. That's your father." She told her son with a smile. "And you're going to love being with him." She added as Gavin and Rogue started walking into the Institute.

**Dragon Emperor0: If there's one thing I know about kissing to see how it feels, it almost always leads to something more.**

**ThermalsniperN7: That's usually how the romance formula goes.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Also, Rowner's dead! And good riddance too. The world's better off without him anyway. Sure hope he didn't give Chelsea indigestion…**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, that'd suck. Does that count as cannibalism, though? … You know what? Never mind. Best not to think about it.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Who cares anyway? Well, see you guys next chapter.**


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42: Marvelous Progress **

It had been about a week since the dance. And a week since Beast had accidentally been mistaken as Bigfoot during a retreat in the woods. Luckily, no one had seen anyone using their powers, not even Principal Kelly. Now everything was finally settled down and Spring Break had finally begun.

At the Institute, everyone was trying to enjoy their break from school as best they could. One person of which being Chelsea, who was currently in the kitchen feeding her pet tortoise Mr. T something to eat.

As the small reptile ate, Marcus walked in. "Hey, Chelsea, mind if we talked? There's something I really need to talk to you about." The man told her as he sat at the table with her.

"What's up?" She asked as she fed another piece of lettuce to her favorite turtle.

"Well, I've been giving this a lot of thought ever since Gav told me you had a boyfriend…" He started. "And, I think that for both our sakes it'd be best to get everything about our… 'Relationship' out in the open so it doesn't cause us any problems down the line."

"... Yeah, I kinda figured that after seeing Logan's reaction when you got here." The blonde nodded. The two then looked at each other and took deep breaths and then she spoke again. "Look, let me be the first to say that I definitely felt something towards you all those years back, I'm not gonna lie."

"Same here, I have always liked you a lot. Though, I think we both know that our hearts weren't in it." He sighed.

"Yeah, and as time went on, I guess I just let those feelings turn into a different kind of 'love' I guess, I honestly started to care about you the same way I did Gavin: as a brother." She nodded.

"Me too, I honestly think of you more as family then as a lover. I guess I was just kind of confused at the time." Marcus shrugged. The two were silent for a moment before Chelsea leaned towards him and gave him a quick peck on the lips, Marcus was a little surprised but just went with it before she pulled back.

"So… Did that make you feel anything? Are those romantic feelings still there?" She asked.

"... No, not really." He shrugged nonchalantly after a moment of thought. He had thought he would have felt something, but, instead he didn't feel anything at all. "I guess we really did move past it, and didn't even realize."

"Yeah, you're right." The dragoness shrugged in agreement. There was a moment of silence as Chelsea continued feeding her turtle. "So… What now?" She asked idly.

"I dunno, guess we could just go back to being friends? Plus I'd kinda like to make up for lost time… Wanna go get a drink with Romano and Logan?" The molecular energy user suggested.

"Eh, sure. Just let me finish feeding Mr. T first." She replied as she fed her pet the rest of his food.

Though unbeknownst to both of them, Logan had witnessed the whole thing. Although he could understand his girlfriend's position because of his past history with Mariko Yashida being so similar, he was still very jealous as any boyfriend would be.

'_Both of you are gonna have a talk with me later.' _He thought as he walked away.

(Elsewhere)

Johan was with Bast in New York City, taking the cat woman to a restaurant that sold Gaza food, wanting to let her have some food like she would eat at home. Upon arriving, they were taken to a booth and were given their menus.

"How did you even find this place?" The catwoman asked as she looked at the drinks available.

"Wasn't too hard. New York is known for having a really diverse food culture, so finding a place that did middle eastern food wasn't too hard to find after I asked around." The man shrugged while looking at his menu.

"Fair point." She conceded. After a bit, she decided to go with a simple glass of water while Johan went with coffee. "So, I'm curious, what exactly did SHIELD have you do to become the soldier you are now?" She wondered, her catlike curiosity showing.

"That's an interesting story." He chuckled. "When I signed up for them, they told me I had to remain tightlipped in a makeshift interrogation, no matter what methods they used, in order to be accepted. The test was about resolve, and boy howdy did I pass with flying colors. I did get the wind knocked out of me, no denying that, but I didn't sing for them." He explained. "After that, I voluntarily got the adamantium treatment. Hurt like hell, but it was worth it. The nanotech… Is a different story." He said as he tried to best explain his nanotech.

Bast tried her best to follow along with what he was saying as they ordered their meal, though had a hard time doing so. Though what she really wanted to know was:

"When we first met, why didn't you say you were a SHIELD agent?" She asked.

"Part of the reason was secrecy. The other part…" He paused as he tried to find the right words. "... Had to do with me not knowing you were captured by HYDRA before, I guess." He finished.

"Yeah, that part's a bit of a touchy subject for me and the rest of my friends." She nodded. "Though I will say one thing, it's kinda nice being able to have someone to talk to who isn't a mutant, but doesn't judge you for being, well, a mutant." She said as she gestured to her body.

"My parents were some pretty open minded folks, and that was something that they made sure they taught me and my sister. It really proved fruitful in my case when my sister's powers manifested for the first time and my response was to hug her." He explained with a smile. "I'm sure they'd like you." He added.

"Thanks. Hey speaking of, what's with her powers anyway?" Bast asked while brushing her pixie cut hair away from her face.

"Oh, don't even start on making me go down _that _rabbit hole…" Johan told her as their conversation went towards his sister.

(Elsewhere)

Back at the Institute, Katerina was in the middle of giving Xavier the demonstration of her powers she had promised him weeks prior. Jean and Emma Frost were present as well to see how well her abilities affected the minds of powerful telepaths.

"Alright, everything is in place. We're ready when you are, Katerina." Jean said through the speaker.

"Alright, let's get started." The woman in question said as eldritch energy enveloped her hands. Throwing it up into the air, the two blobs of energy landed at the two women's feet, causing them to clutch their heads as the Stacks of Insanity and Torment started to settle in.

"What is this?!" Jean questioned.

"My power. I can cause people to suffer from insanity to any degree. On top of that, I can do this." She explained before going into her Cthulhu form, causing the two telepaths to take a few steps back in shock and, in Jean's case, slight fear.

"W-w-w-what the-?!" The redhead sputtered.

"How in the world?!" Emma gasped in surprise.

"Yep, this is _very _real." The transformed woman said as she flexed her wings. "So, how are your heads handling my powers?" She asked.

"I'm just barely able to keep myself from going insane." Emma said, now in her diamond form, which cut off any effects the attack may have had on her psyche and stopped the progression of the Stacks of Insanity and Torment.

"Me… Too!" Jean grunted, clutching her head with her eyes shut.

"I've got a few other things to show, but first…" Katerina trailed off before removing the Stacks of Insanity and Torment from the two so they could focus on what's coming next.

Both women fell to their knees in near exhaustion. "What else… Could you possibly be able to do?" Emma asked.

Smirking, the eldritch woman and her tentacles grab the platinum blondie, much to her surprise as she looks at the owner of the appendages. "Does this answer your question?" She asked rhetorically as her tentacles felt her up. Emma blushed as she felt the boneless appendages move around her body and go close to some areas that she'd rather not have touched at the moment.

"C-c-could you put me d-down please?" She asked with a stutter.

"You certainly are nice and soft Miss Frost, very squishy." The woman grinned, her tentacles squeezing telepath's ample and plump breasts. Gavin's councilor moaned quietly in pleasure at the feeling.

"So that's what the others meant by a weird fetish…" Jean noted with a slight shiver while Xavier decided to speak up as two of Katerina's tentacles started to slip into Emma's pants.

"Can we please move on? I do believe there are other things for you to show us that are not related to what you're doing." He stated, causing the Cthulhu woman to stop her actions before setting a heavily blushing Emma on the ground.

"Right. Sorry, got distracted there." She apologized sheepishly. "Alright, let's continue…" She said as the tests resumed.

(Elsewhere)

In the Bayville music store, Gavin and Rogue were inside trying to decide on what to get for themselves. They both liked getting each other's opinions on different things, mainly because it usually helped each of them out.

"So I saw on the news that the Bayville Sirens were at it again." Gavin brought up as he picked up a Beastie Boyz album and looked it over.

"And they're doin' some good, too. There are a ton of things they're dealing with that the police are probably ignoring." Rogue chirped as she browsed the selection.

"Makes me wanna meet them, I like their style." The boy said as he rummaged through more music. Rogue did the same, but when she moved to another section she bumped into a blonde woman and her skin accidentally touched some of Rogue's for more than the 15 second 'okay' limit causing her powers to act up.

Acting fast, Gavin tried to pull her away from the woman before it caused too much commotion, but he couldn't seem to get the two to separate, and by the time he did, it had been well over three minutes.

"Come on Rogue, snap out of it, we gotta move!" He told her while trying to shake her awake. People started to get there. "Hey someone call an ambulance while I get my friend home, she's had a seizure and I think that woman's been knocked out!" He told one of the people.

"On it." Someone replied as they dialed 911 on their phone. The pseudo vampire then grabbed Rogue bridal style before putting her in his car and driving back to the Institute.

Once there he immediately carried her inside. "Hey, guys! I need help! Bast, Beast! Get down here quick!" He called frantically. Seconds later everyone came back from what they were doing, save Bast and Johan who were still in New York.

"What's wrong, Gavin?" Ororo asked in concern.

"Rogue made skin contact with someone, and I couldn't separate them for three minutes! Now Rogue won't wake up!" He said in slight panic. "Where's Bast?!" He asked, looking around for the Institute's doctor.

"She's in New York with Johan!" Beast replied as he picked the unconscious girl up and carried her to the infirmary. "She sustained contact for three minutes straight, you say?"

"Five if you count the two minutes it took me to separate them, yeah. How bad is that?" The boy asked.

"Physically? Not very much. Mentally? Considerably." The blue mutant said as he set the two toned girl on the infirmary bed.

"How considerable are we talking here?" The horror fan asked.

"She'll most likely need to have a mental barrier put in place to avoid any lingering effects of the person's psyche from effecting her own, or worse, take over." The ape-like man explained.

"I'll give Emma a call to help out, then." Gavin said as he whipped his phone out.

"No need." The blonde said as she walked in. "I'm already here." She then knelt next to Rogue and started working on the barrier, and as she did, she was able to see just who she had drained.

"Okay, this might be trouble." She said as she finished putting the barrier in place.

"Why?" Gavin asked.

"Because she's absorbed power from Carol Danvers, aka Ms. Marvel." The platinum blondie revealed, getting looks of shock in return.

"Wait, Ms. Marvel? Isn't she, like, a cosmic level super hero?" Kitty asked.

"She was, now she's just a rundown drunk who sleeps with every random man who comes her way, talk about a big disappointment." Chelsea scoffed, earning a few glares. "Or at least, so I've heard." She added.

Marcus seemed to stiffen. He remembered there being a Carol Danvers in his rehab group, though he had no idea that she was a superhero.

"Do you think she'll be okay? Rogue, I mean." Gavin asked.

"She'll be fine. Give her a few hours of rest, and she should be up again." Emma replied, calming the boy down.

"And what about Ms. Marvel?" Jean questioned in concern.

"Someone called an ambulance as I got Rogue back here. She should be fine… I hope." He replied while muttering the last part.

Everyone then left the Southern Belle to let her rest, well, everyone except Gavin, who stayed with her until he fell asleep next to the bed she was in. However he was woken up by the girl's voice at around nine o'clock at night.

"Uh, Gavin?" Rogue asked. The boy slowly woke up before he shot up in alarm when he saw what was going on with her: she was floating! And she had cosmic energy flowing around her.

"What the-?! What's going on?!" The boy asked in shock. His yells seemed to have alerted Bast, who had just returned a few hours prior and was going to the infirmary to check on the two, only to be gobsmacked by what she saw.

"What in the world is this?!" She yelled with wide eyes.

The commotion seemed to catch the attention of Xavier, who called the others to the infirmary to see what was going on, and they all shared the two's reaction.

"Ah-Ah don't know how Ah'm doing this! A little help would be nice!" The girl exclaimed as she tried to control herself.

Gavin quickly grabbed her hand and slowly coaxed her down as the glow went away, leaving her to sit on the bed, a hand placed on her forehead.

"Wh-What happened to me?" She asked tiredly.

"You sustained contact with a woman named Carol Danvers for at least five minutes, and somehow, have permanently absorbed some of her powers." Xavier explained.

"Ah _what?!" _She exclaimed in shock before holding her head. "Ugh, this is too much of a headache right now." She groaned.

"Alright, alright! Everybody out, everybody out, come on!" Gavin said as he started pushing everyone out the door. "I'll see you in the morning." He told her as he left as well, leaving the girl alone to finally rest.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was about to climb into his coffin after putting on his PJs when his phone suddenly rang. Picking it up, he answered, and found that the _one _person he didn't want to talk to was on the other end.

"_Gavin, we need to talk." _Mystique's voice said, causing him to growl.

"Mystique… What do you want?" The boy asked angrily, his grip on his phone tightening.

"_I'm in need of two favors from you." _She told him.

"And what things could you possibly need me to do, and what for?" He growled. "More importantly: what makes you think I'd do you any favors?" He added callously.

"_How about the fact that it's the only way you'll get possession of Damian?_" She retorted. Gavin froze for a moment before sighing angrily. He was going to regret this, and he knew it.

"What the flying fuck is it you could possibly need from me?" He questioned.

"_I'm just going to need you to do two simple tasks. Now be quiet and I'll tell you what they are…" _she said as she started explaining what she had in mind, and Gavin listened with anger boiling up in his stomach.

(Elsewhere)

Romano was working on the XTVs in the garage when he suddenly got a message from Katerina. '_Hey, you wanna grab a drink with me?' _It read.

The man looked at the message before responding and cleaning himself off. Looks like he had something to do this spring break after all…

**Dragon Emperor0: So… **_**That **_**all happened. Boy and this is the chapter before HeX Factor, what could Mystique be planning?**

**ThermalsniperN7: If I had to guess, things that could cause Gavin to sic Katerina on her when it's all said and done.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Also quick disclaimer, since I'm using many of the MCU versions of the characters in this story (ie. Nick Fury and the Avengers), I'd like you all to know that I'll be strictly using the X-men Evolution version of Scarlet Witch in this story. Also, I will not be using Brie Larson's Ms. Marvel. Reason being because when I saw the movie I felt like it was attacking me personally and us guys in general. And I just don't like those kinds of vibes. Really depresses me.**

**ThermalsniperN7: With that out of the way, see you guys next chapter!**


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43: A VeXing HeX**

_Older Damian vs Brotherhood: Rage (Gaara Rap) by Daddyphatsnaps._

Gavin was standing at the front gate of the Institute. Who or what he was waiting for no one knew, though this question was soon answered when a brown Cadillac drove up to him. The back door opened and inside was Mystique and an elderly woman, and in the shapeshifter's lap was a baby in a grey onesie.

"Hello, Gavin. Come, get in." The shapeshifter beckoned, causing the boy to growl slightly before getting in the car.

"Let's just get this over with." He sighed as he got in. As the car drove away, the pseudo vampire started holding Damian before he looked at Mystique. "Why did you even do all this? Was this the only reason you had me impregnate you with Damian? Some stupid jail break?" He asked, a small amount of anger in his tone.

"Actually… No. This was more of an afterthought." She told him. "My actual reasons for doing this is because I _really _wanted to feel like a mother again." The woman continued with a sigh.

"And so you made _me_ the unwilling subject for that. Tch." The boy scoffed.

"It's true, I could have made love to any man I wanted, but I'll be the first to admit that I have a type: Strong, confident mutants." She shrugged. "And you _certainly _fit the bill." The redhead added.

"I will have you driven to the deepest pit of insanity imaginable." Gavin threatened.

"_However _I did it for another reason. I saw how pent up you were at the club, and I thought I'd help you get the release you needed." Mystique stated in an effort to calm him.

"I would be glad you had done that… If you hadn't drugged me to do it." He started calmly before growling out the second part.

"Tell me, Gavin, _would _you have accepted my offer if I asked you directly?" The woman questioned. The boy took a moment to think before he shook his head.

"No, I wouldn't have. I would've probably told you that I wanted my first time to be with Rogue." Gavin nodded.

"Precisely, and with how slow things are going with you two you probably would have been waiting for a very long time. And I speak from experience when I say that that much pent up longing and lust is not at all healthy." She replied before sighing. "I don't expect you to forgive me, but just know that I did not do this out of malicious intent. In fact if I had not wanted to get Wanda, I would have given you Damian with absolutely no hassle." The woman explained, causing Gavin to frown before he noticed something.

"Who's Wanda?" He asked.

"Magneto's daughter. He had her committed to a mental institution years ago. I wish to break her out so that we both can take our revenge on him." She explained.

"Oh Christ." The boy groaned. Seconds later they pulled up to the mental institution, and then they let Gavin and Mystique get out.

"Make sure you direct her towards us after I send her towards you. Alright?" Mystique told him.

"And if I don't?" He questioned.

"Then both Damian and I disappear." She replied. "Don't make us do that, Gavin, please."

The boy glared at her angrily before he sighed in aggravation. "Fine." He growled. "But know this: There will be consequences for making me do this. Not now, not this week. But know that they _will _come for you." He said in a warning tone.

"Understood, I just hope that you'll be able to make peace with this someday." She said as they walked inside.

'_Trust me, so do I._' Gavin thought.

(Later)

Gavin was now in his smoke form forcing a frantic girl towards where Mystique was waiting after the girl had escaped the shapeshifter a few minutes earlier.

"She's coming your way!" Gavin said through an earpiece Mystique gave him.

"_I'll be right there, I'm just escorting Xavier out so he doesn't see you." _Mystique replied.

"Uh… Okay?" He nodded as he chased Wanda to the exit and then right into the arms of Agatha Harknis, the witch Mystique brought with her.

As the witch calmed the daughter of Magneto down, Mystique walked up to them. "And now, it is done." She told the two.

"Alright, now what?" Gavin asked irritably.

"Now, you go home with Damian, and make sure you tell Xavier and the X-men that the Brotherhood will be at the mall at 9:00 tonight." Mystique told him, handing him Damian after kissing her son on the forehead.

Gavin looked at his son, who looked back at him with happy eyes, before he sighed. He hoped he could explain himself effectively after this was all over.

"Alright. Bye." He sighed as he and Damian left, the baby waving goodbye to his mother as they walked away. Mystique waved back, a sad smile on her face.

(Later)

Gavin now walked out of a cab with Damian in his arms before he pressed the buzzer. "Hey, can you guys let me in?" He asked through the speaker.

"_Mind telling us where you went, Gavin?"_ Came Jean's questioning voice.

"You'll see when I get inside." Was his simple reply. As soon as the gates opened, Gavin adjusted the six month old in his arms with a slight groan. "Good Lord, buddy what was your mother feeding you?" He asked the infant. His only response was incoherent baby noises.

With a knock on the door he was soon met by Jean, who's attention immediately went to the blue skinned baby in his arms, who was wearing a small beenie to keep the sun from his skin.

"... Is that…?" She asked in surprise.

"Yep… My son." He confirmed with a tired sigh. Damian simply gave a gummy smile and started babbling happily, right before taking his dad's finger into his tiny hands and started sucking on it as they walked inside. Gavin decided to sit on the couch for a few minutes and just simply enjoy his time with Damian. A few minutes later, Chelsea walked in and paused when she saw the blue baby in Gavin's lap.

"... Am I going crazy?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"No, this little stinker is the kid who's been causing us so much trouble." Gavin told her before turning to his son. "Say hi to Aunt Chelsea, Damian." He told the baby. The small baby looked at Chelsea before giggling and reaching his hands out for her, wanting to be held by her.

Chelsea seemed a little wary about holding a baby, but went towards the couch and took him into her arms, the black haired infant putting his little hands on her face playfully.

"Hey, cut it out pipsqueak, my face is not a toy!" She chuckled. Rogue then came in and spotted Damian before she practically made a beeline towards them.

"Oh mah goodness, he's so cute!" She squealed in delight as she looked at him. Damian looked at her and began reaching out for her. She gently took him out of Chelsea's arms, making sure the baby didn't touch her skin. "Hey is this kid who Ah think it is?" She asked as she booped the baby's nose, causing him to giggle happily.

"Yep, he is." Gavin confirmed.

Soon enough, everyone else also came in to see what the commotion was all about, and once they saw Damian, they all realized why Gavin was gone all morning.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but there has to have been a catch for this." Lance commented carefully.

"There was, but that can be taken care of later." The pseudo vampire told them. "Anyway, Prof, would it be okay if I let Damian stay in my room? I already got a crib ready." He asked the man as he watched Devin get his hair pulled by his new nephew.

"When did you get a crib ready?" Bast wondered.

"A couple weeks after I got back from my 'trip' I had been saving up since Christmas." He replied.

"In any case, I'm fine with Damian staying in your room with you, Gavin. I just hope you can handle the parental responsibilities you now hold." The professor said.

"Trust me, I've done my homework." The boy nodded before he turned to his brother. "Devin, can you call our mom so she can come and meet her grandson?" He asked.

"Yeah, Just-ow! Hey, watch it!" The metal mutant said as Damian suddenly pulled on his ear. Setting the baby down, he started crawling around until he reached Logan, who the blue skinned infant looked up at with curiosity in his burgundy eyes.

The scraggly man looked down at him before he smiled a bit and knelt down to pick him up. "Hey there, kiddo." He said as softly as he could. Damian only babbled in response.

"So what was the string that was attached?" Chelsea questioned.

"Mystique challenged us to a duel with the Brotherhood, at the mall. And she said we'd need everyone we could get, because now they have a 'secret weapon,' a new mutant named Wanda." Gavin stated. The mention of the girl in question made Xavier turn to him.

"Are you certain?" The telepath questioned.

"Yeah. Met her myself, and I got two words for you: total nutcase." He nodded. "In fact, I'm pretty sure they're probably at the Brotherhood house right now."

(Elsewhere)

Mystique walked up to the boarding house with Wanda and Agatha in tow. When they reached the door, Mystique opened it and announced her presence.

"Guess who's back!" She called out, causing Fred, Pietro and Todd to look at her in surprise.

"Oh, uh…" Fred said, nearly dropping his lunch.

"Mystique, you're back…" Pietro got out nervously, looking away.

Toad gulped. "H-Have a nice maternity leave? Heh heh…" He croaked before chuckling sheepishly. Mystique looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"How did you know about that? I don't recall ever telling you about it." She questioned.

"Gavin told us." The silver haired teen replied before frowning. "I honestly don't know whether or not I should just leave the Brotherhood after hearing about what you did to him." He said with a glare.

Mystique glared at him before sighing. "I don't intend to justify myself to you, Pietro, but I will say this: what happened between me and Gavin was simply him releasing his pent up sexual frustration on me for one night, that was all. I may have used the situation to my advantage, yes, but my intention was for it to be mutually beneficial." She told him, her glare never leaving her features. Pietro looked into her eyes for a moment before sighing.

"I guess we'll have to take your word for it." He conceded.

"We seem to be missing a member, where is Lance?" The blue skinned woman asked as Tabitha started walking down the stairs.

"Haven't ya heard? He's joined the X-men, got himself a new costume too." The girl stated as she walked down. "So, you must be mystic."

"Mystique." Said woman corrected.

"Whatever." The blonde said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I don't know why you're here, but we're doing just fine without you, so, how about you just beat it?"

Mystique just glared and cleared her throat, then Wanda entered the building, making Pietro's eyes widen in absolute horror.

"Wanda?!" The boy squeaked out.

"Pietro?" The girl gasped before growling as her powers activated and caused the house to shake.

Everyone in the building took cover behind the couch as the furniture was sent flying all over the place. The slightly insane girl growled as she made her way to the room they had taken refuge in.

"Who the heck is this chick? Your ex girlfriend?!" Todd asked as a hat rack impaled the area between them.

"Worse, my sister!" He replied fearfully.

"You're sister?!" Toad yelped as a ceiling fan suddenly almost decapitated him.

"Where's Lance when you need him?!" Fred yelled as he hid as well. Luckily for the three boys Tabitha hurled three bombs at Wanda and knocked her clear across the room into a wall.

"How do ya like that, ya crazy ass bitch?!" The bomb maker snapped.

Wanda slowly got up and was about to retaliate, but Agitha came up to her and started calming her down.

"Okay, what the hell is she doing here?!" Pietro snapped.

"She is here to help us get our revenge on Magneto." Was the blue skinned shapeshifter's reply. "But first, She'll be helping us knock those X-men down a peg." She added.

Meanwhile, outside the building, a dark purple portal opened and a teenager stepped out. The teen looked around thirteen was around 5'9.5" with a build similar to either Jamie, and he also had a birth mark on the side of his neck in the shape of a crow, and he had blue skin, black hair that was medium length which was styled in a Warrior's Wolf tail and he also had burgundy red eyes, facial features that showed he had mixed heritage, and his skin also had the same scaly texture as Mystique's. Lastly, he also had a tattoo over his left eye of the Japanese Kanji for 'Love': 愛. The boy was also wearing a pair of purple pants, silver knee high boots similar to Scott's, silver arm length gauntlets, and a long purple coat that was partially opened near his chest area.

The boy looked at the house in disdain as he cracked his knuckles. "Found you… Prepare to feel my anger." He growled.

(The next day)

Gavin was walking through the halls of Bayville and everyone was giving him weird looks. The boy sighed in exasperation, of course they were. As he got his stuff, he was suddenly approached by Risty.

"Hey Gav, so I heard from Rogue that Aunt Raven gave you custody of Damian. That's great news!" She smiled, making everyone stare.

"What possessed you to say that in the middle of a crowd?!" He hissed.

"Sorry!" The girl said, covering her mouth. "I'm just really happy for you, that's all." She explained.

"Thanks, but be quiet about it next time. I'm pretty sure you've already got rumors spreading with that stunt of yours." He told her, his ears picking up the telltale signs of gossip.

"Sorry." Risty apologized.

As they walked to class, Risty decided to make small talk. "So…. What's it like being a new dad?" She asked as quietly as she could.

"It's still setting in, so I can't say much." He whispered back with a shrug. Though before they could get to class, Principal Kelly bumped into them.

"Sorry Principal Kelly, didn't mean to bump into you there." Gavin apologized. The man looked at him and nodded.

"It's alright Gavin, also I heard through the other students that you have a new little brother, congratulations." The man told him.

"Thanks, and the kick-starter for that piece of news is standing right next to me." He replied with a twitching eyebrow as he jutted a thumb at Risty, who chuckled sheepishly.

(Later)

Gavin was now trying to give Damian his bottle of new formula, but he just would not take it. The little guy just didn't like the formula at all.

"Damian Qrow Shirakumo, you know you have to drink this, now come on!" The boy snapped as the infant squirmed in his arms as Rogue and the others watched.

"Should we give him some kind of help?" Evan asked as he watched the scene in front of him.

"If we help him with everything, he won't learn." Ororo told him.

"Come on Gavin, just stick it in his mouth and force it down his throat!" Chelsea told him.

"What?! No! That's not how you feed a baby!" The boy replied. "For some reason, he doesn't like formula!" He added.

"Let me try." Rogue said as she took the bottle and warmed it up by sticking it in some boiling water, and then took Damian into her arms. The baby looked at the bottle before he took the cap into his mouth, and started suckling on it!

Gavin looked at Rogue and Damian with a gaping expression before he facepalmed. "That's it, I'm taking notes!" He declared as he took out a notepad from one of his pockets and jotted down what Rogue did.

"Who's a good boy? Drinking his formula like a big boy?" The Southern Belle cooed as she kissed his forehead.

"Ma ma!" Damian said happily as he finished the bottle, nuzzling his head into her chest. Rogue blushed slightly before her brain suddenly registered something _very _major.

"Did he just call me mom?" She asked Gavin with wide eyes.

"I think he did." The boy nodded. "He must think you're his mom, too." He said, looking at his son as the tike faced him.

"Da da! Ma ma Ro!" Damian babbled before giggling. The two teens smiled before Gavin came to Rogue's side and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as the two of them looked at their son. Everyone else looked at the scene and smiled.

"You know, you gotta admit, they look really good together." Scott commented, getting nods of agreement from everyone else.

Rogue heard that and blushed. She still wasn't entirely sure if she was ready to look at Gavin _that _way just yet. Her feelings were still kinda stirred up about him and Scott, but she was still willing to play the part for Damian's sake. Gavin knew this as well, but appreciated Scott thought. That made him feel a lot better.

However this tender moment was interrupted when Xavier came in. "Everyone, suit up, Cerebro just picked up the Brotherhood at the Bayville mall, this may be the attack Gavin mentioned." He told them.

"Should I call in Katerina, just in case?" Gavin asked.

"Her powers would be useful against Wanda, yes." The telepath nodded. "Come, we haven't a moment to waste!"

As they left, Mystique slowly came out of the bushes and went inside the mansion, she had something important to do while they were away. Though before she did, she stopped by Gavin's room and kissed Damian, who was taking a nap, good night, before going to the Cerebro room.

(Elsewhere)

At the mall everyone was able to get in, and as they did, it could be seen that Lance and Roxy joined them. Lance had a new costume too, it was a lot like his old one, but his helmet looked a lot like one Judge Dredd would wear and had a more X-men color scheme. As they walked in further, Devin was the one unlucky enough to bump into Wanda first.

"Oh joy… I presume that you're Wanda, correct?" The boy asked with a groan. He slowly turned his body into a metal alloy, more specifically: Carbonadium.

Wanda glared at him and started firing HeX blasts at him, but as they hit, she was soon left shocked as she saw that the blasts had no effect on him.

"What the-?! How are you immune to my powers?!" She asked with a shocked voice.

"Apparently Carbonadium's naturally radioactive makeup has an inherent immunity to things of a mystical nature. An intriguing fact I found out after experimenting with it." The boy said, examining and flexing his hand before turning it into an ax.

Meanwhile, everyone was fighting the brotherhood one on one, when Wanda came flying through the air and crashed into Pietro, having been kicked a considerable distance by Devin.

"Took you long enough, Metal head." Chelsea snarked as the boy joined them.

"She tried to fight back in spite of my Carbonadium protecting me from her powers. Look how that turned out." He replied with a shrug.

The blonde then turned full dragon and charged at Blob, who then proceeded to wrestle with her, while Gavin was fighting Pietro and his enhanced speed was allowing him to keep up with the silver speedster. Devin and Roxy were busy trying to corral Toad, but the amphibious mutant was proving to be rather slippery. And everyone else? They were getting absolutely _hammered _by Wanda.

"Gah! This isn't working! Where's Katerina?!" Jean asked as she recovered from being thrown into a wall.

"I don't know! Hey Avalanche, let 'er rip!" Scott yelled.

"You got it, Scotty!" The walking earthquake said before he caused the whole building to shake, but instead of it hitting its intended target, Wanda redirected it right back at them. Eyes wide, the earthquake generator quickly leapt out of the way as his attack passed him. The attack soon hit the doors of the mall… And let Katerina, who had just arrived, into the building.

"Alright, who's the asshole who's been wrecking my favorite shopping spot?!" She yelled, assuming her Cthulhu form. The Brotherhood members looked at her and immediately began backing away in fear upon seeing the angry Lovecraftian mutant stalking forward.

"Zey did it!" Kurt said, pointing at the Brotherhood. Katerina sent a glare at the group before firing a blast of eldritch energy at them. Wanda tried to HeX it, but the power behind it was too much for her, so she was overpowered. The targets of the woman's anger could only shield themselves with their arms as the blast hit, causing them to be knocked off their feet.

"What the hell is she?!" Toad asked in fear as he got back to his feet.

"Whatever she is, she's powerful enough to overpower my own powers!" The Scarlet Witch said as she got up. Turning towards Katerina again, Wanda gathered all her HeX power and then sent it out in a massive blast that went through the entire area, knocking all of the X-men down, even Chelsea in her Dragon form was knocked on her side. Wanda slowly fell to her knees as she breathed heavily.

However, before the Brotherhood could savor their apparent victory, someone else walked into the now ruined building. It was the same boy from the previous night, and he folded his arms as he glared at the Brotherhood angrily.

"You will all know my anger." He growled.

"Who's this guy?" Blob asked dumbly.

The boy then reached into his chest as shadows surrounded it and suddenly pulled out a weed hook. "Call me Yokai." The boy said as he twirled it, and hurled it at them and then disappeared into a shadow and reappeared out of a shadow behind Blob and hooked him in the back before hurling him into a purple portal above him and then the walking mountain of human blubber was sent into a infinite loop of portals.

As this was happening, Pietro tried attacking the boy from behind, but he was instead caught by a shadow clone that came out of the kid's back and grabbed him before hurling the speedster forward and then slinging Yokai past him and allowing the shadowmancer to skid to a halt and clothesline Pietro.

Toad tried to shoot some slime at him, but the boy simply sunk into the shadows and reappeared behind him. Using the opening, Yokai grabbed him by the collar and threw him in a direction where his shadow clone sprang up and punched him back towards the shadowmancer. This volleyball parody continued for a few seconds before Yokai sent the boy into the air where he and his shadow clone smacked him into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Lastly was Wanda, and the girl was visibly shaken. Both figures cracked their knuckles and popped their necks before they closed the portals and caused Blob to slam onto his stomach with a boom. Absorbing his clone back into him, Yokai dashed forward and uppercutted Wanda before jumping into the air and punching her down towards the first level, then appearing again and kicking her into the air and then punched her down again, causing her to form a small crater on the floor.

With the enemy beaten, he then made another portal and disappeared before the X-men regained consciousness.

(Elsewhere)

Mystique was walking back to the Brotherhood house, but she was then caught by Yokai, who kicked her in the stomach and pulled her up by her hair.

"It's nice to see you again, Mystique." The boy said before he reeled his arm back and punched her, knocking her unconscious. After kicking her into a wall, he opened another portal. "Time to go home." He said as he disappeared.

**Dragon Emperor0: Okay, this guy is hardcore.**

**ThermalsniperN7: He really is. Anyone wonder what he's gonna do with Mystique?**

**Dragon Emperor0: In any case, Damian is with the X-Men! This little kid is gonna make things awesome around the Institute now. And besides that, big news: the next big arc of the story will be happening next chapter. This arc will be called the X-men vs Gargoyles arc, and just as it says in the title, it will be a X-men Evolution/Gargoyles crossover arc.**

**ThermalsniperN7: This has been a long time coming, and it is gonna be fun! Also, just to clear something up: Yes, Wanda managed to knock out Katerina. In spite of having powers resembling a Lovecraftian Elder God, she isn't invincible.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Also, expect the X-23 episode to come early guys, because after that, there's gonna be a **_**very **_**big plotline involving Chelsea and Logan. One that's going to change their lives forever.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yep, and it's gonna be **_**really **_**juicy. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter!**


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44: A Coffin Dance Gone Wrong**

**One thousand years ago, superstition and the sword ruled. It was a time of darkness, it was a world of fear, it was the age of Gargoyles.**

_(Images of a castle in the sunset are shown before it switches to various gargoyles, including Bronx and both Lexington and Brooklyn as epic music starts to play.)_

**Stone by day. Warriors by night. We were betrayed by the humans we were sworn to protect, frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years. Now we are in Manhattan. The spell is broken, and we live again!**

_(A Viking smashes several of the gargoyles who are still stone, before the scene changes to a scene of Goliath letting out a grief stricken howl atop a tower. Then the scene changes to a helicopter flying over Xanatos Tower before night falls as Goliath awakens, much to the man's surprise.)_

**The world we live in has entered a new age as we slept, called the Age of Mutants. And as they strive to create peace, likewise we will strive to help them however we can.**

_(Images of various mutants, including Gavin and Katerina, are shown before it changes to the gargoyle's standing at their sides.)_

**Because we are defenders of the night! We are Gargoyles!**

_(Images of Goliath rescuing Alisa, Brooklyn and Goliath crawling up walls are shown before images of Xanatos in his mech suit are shown fighting against Magneto and Demona, while Gavin is shown fighting Oberon before it cuts to Goliath roaring at a storm as the title appears.)_

-_Manhattan, New York. Night time-_

Detective Alisa Maza was walking up to the clock tower of the Manhattan police department building, she was currently talking on the phone with someone.

"So wait, let me get this straight. You're telling me that one of your friends is now a dad at eighteen? How?" She asked the person on the other end.

"_It's a long story. Hey, Aunt Alisa, why don't you come to the Institute sometime? There are a few friends I'd like you to meet." _The voice of Kai replied.

"I'll see if I can take some time off to do that. Sounds like I'd be in for a treat." The policewoman replied with a smile.

As she finished walking up the stairs, she went out to the balcony where several large gargoyle statues started to crack before they shattered and came to life as flesh and blood.

"I'll talk to you later Kai, say hi to your friends for me." Alisa said before the two said goodbye and hung up. "Morning guys." She greeted the gargoyles.

"Hey, Alisa. Anything new happen today?" Brooklyn asked.

"Yeah, I just got off the phone with my niece and apparently one of her friends just got custody of a kid he didn't even know he had until recently." The woman nodded. "What baffles me the most is how he'd allow himself to be taken advantage of like that."

"I don't think it was of his own volition. There's bound to be more than what you've already heard." Hudson inputted.

"Hudson is correct. If you find an opportunity, ask him. Though be careful with your wording as you do. It is a rather sensitive subject." Goliath added.

"Yeah, you're probably right." She nodded.

(Elsewhere)

-_Xavier Institute, same time-_

All of the students were currently outside in either formal or semi formal wear and the entire front lawn of the Institute was being illuminated by torchlight as Bobby, Roberto, Kurt, Romano, Marcus and Johan were hoisting up Gavin's coffin on their shoulders, and it was also covered in (temporary) green paint to symbolize HYDRA as Chelsea, Bast, Pele and Kai were in black formal clothes. Yes, they were doing a mock funeral of HYDRA.

"This has to be the funniest thing we've ever done to diss HYDRA." Marcus said with a giant grin on his face.

"Si." Romano nodded. That was when they started marching the coffin towards the back cliff near the Institute, and then suddenly they started to play music. And then started to a… Coffin dance?

Yep, it was a coffin dance, alright. How else are they supposed to diss HYDRA? Though little did they know that someone actually was inside the coffin, despite the others checking to make sure there wasn't.

It was Gavin, and he hadn't woken up yet from his daytime nap. So the guys were doing their dance, with him caught right in the middle of it! As their dance went on, they passed over the Hudson River… And it was then that things went horribly wrong.

Bobby accidentally sneezed on Roberto and froze his shoulder, causing both boys to lose their positions and then one after the other they all fell down and the coffin flew off and fell into the river below before it started floating away, the paint washing off as soon as the water touched it.

Everyone could only watch the coffin float away with horrified expressions. Gavin was going to kill them for losing his bed!

"Uh, guys? Where's Gavin?" Roxy asked as she looked around.

"Wait… Wasn't this time of day his naptime?" Bast asked with a scared look, causing everyone to go pale.

"... We're fucked. We are _utterly _fucked." Johan whimpered. He was tough in the face of a lot of things, but angry family members were not (and never would be) one of them.

(Elsewhere)

As the pseudo vampire's coffin floated down the river, it soon entered the section of the river that flowed through Central Park. Overhead, several metallic shapes flew over the park. It was Xanatos' Steel Clan.

"_Suspicious object found in Central Park River way, permission to retrieve?" _The robot buzzed into its coms to Xanatos Tower.

"_Granted." _Came the approval of their creator. With that the robots swooped down and picked up the coffin, before flying back towards the tower. And miraculously, Gavin still wasn't awakened from his slumber.

A few minutes later, the flying hunks of metal soon passed the clock tower, gaining the attention of the gargoyles and Alisa.

"Was that a coffin I saw them carrying?" The police woman asked as she watched the robots fly by them.

"What would David Xanatos want with a coffin?" Angela, Goliath's daughter, asked.

"Knowing him it probably isn't anything good." Brooklyn grumbled, his arms folded.

"Should we stop them?" Broadway asked, all the while eating a few slices of pizza. Lexington then leapt up and looked through his binoculars.

"Definitely, judging by the way the coffin is made? I think it may have someone inside it.. Mainly because it clearly looks like someone's used it as a bed." The small gargoyle nodded.

"A little odd, in my opinion, but okay." Alisa shrugged. "Go get that coffin. I'll wait here for you guys to get back." The policewoman said, getting nods in return.

Goliath was the first to crash into the robot leading the squad, causing them to stop and drop the coffin and start flying after him, Brooklyn and Lexington.

"I got it!" Broadway said as he tried to catch the falling object, only to be pulled down with it. "Don't got it-WHOA!"

Luckily for him, Hudson was there to help, along with Angela. "This thing is heavy!" The lone female of the group groaned.

"If someone's inside this, they need to lose a bit of weight." Broadway agreed.

"Just keep the thing from hitting the ground." Hudson said as he tried to stay airborne. Meanwhile, with the other three, they were luckily able to beat the Steel Clan by using Brooklyn's favorite tactic: playing chicken.

"Gets 'em every time!" The red skinned gargoyle grinned as he and Lexington high fived as four of the robots crashed into each other and blew up. After they were dealt with, the two joined the other three in carrying the coffin back to the clock tower.

As they sat it down, Bronx, a dog-like gargoyle, ran up to the wooden box and started sniffing it in curiosity. They all stood around it as they looked it over, noting the decals and bumper stickers all over it, and the inscriptions on the top.

"I don't see anything ancient about it. In fact, it looks way too modern for it to qualify as such." Alisa said as she examined it, finding nothing ancient about it.

"Aye, I'm inclined to agree lass." Husdson nodded. As they continued to examine it, they all jumped in shock when, all of a sudden, the lid of the coffin flew open and a boy sat up from inside it. He was dressed in black pjs and had a bat shaped night mask over his eyes. He had very long black hair as well and looked to be of mixed Japanese heritage.

"Alright, who the hell's been tossing my coffin around?!" He barked irritably before he took off his mask and noticed Alisa and the gargoyles looking at him with wide eyes. "... Okay, either I'm still asleep and I'm dreaming, or this is actually real." He deadpanned after a moment.

"What the heck?!" Lexington yelped, leaping back in shock, Goliath seemed to be surprised, Brooklyn had his arms crossed, Hudson had his sword ready, Angela was behind Goliath, Bronx was growling… And Broadway had a rope of garlic at the ready.

"Stay away from me, you blood sucker!" He said, waving his garlic rope around.

"Put that thing in the trash! I'm allergic to that stuff!" The boy barked, unknowingly adding more fuel to the fat gargoyle's fire. Getting out of the coffin, he then reeled back when the loud sound of the traffic below assaulted his ears, causing him to clutch them in pain.

"You okay?" The policewoman asked in concern.

"NO! I don't have my hearing aids with me, so all that traffic is murdering my ears!" He yelled as he gritted his teeth.

"Wait, huh?" Lexington asked in confusion.

"My hearing is so sensitive that I can hear a pin drop from one side of Manhattan to the other, that's what I mean! It's why I need hearing aids!" The boy growled. Seeing that he was clearly in pain, Brooklyn went inside and brought out a pair of headphones.

"Here." He told him, handing him the headphones. Gavin immediately took them and put them on his ears, dulling the noise and making him let out a sigh of relief.

"Ah, much better." He said in a relieved tone before turning to the others. "Now, could I please get an explanation of how I ended up here?" He asked.

"You were brought here after we saved your coffin from being taken by the Steel Clan." Goliath spoke up. "I am Goliath, and this is my clan: Brooklyn, Lexington, Hudson, Bronx, Angela, and you've already met Broadway." He added while introducing the rest of the gargoyles.

"Gavin Shirakumo." The boy told them, shaking the giant's hand. "If you don't mind me asking, who's the Steel Clan exactly?" He asked.

"They're a bunch of cheap tin can imitations of us that belong to David Xanatos." Brooklyn explained irritably.

"Seriously? Wait hold on…" Gavin said before he realized something. "Wait I recognize you guys, you're the gargoyles I saw the night my friends took the X-Jet for a joyride!"

Recognition suddenly registered in Goliath's mind. "And you're the one I saw looking back at us." He noted.

"Holy shit!" The pseudo vampire said in surprise. Then he saw Alisa. "Oh for fuck's sake, the police are here." He groaned as he facepalmed.

"Oh, shut up. I've been friends with these guys for a long time." The blue haired woman huffed.

"Oh really?" The boy nodded. "So you guys know Mr. Xanatos too huh? Cool. He's been a huge help for us at the Institute I go to. Seriously, you would not _believe _the fiascos he's helped us avoid."

"Just what do you mean by Institute? Do you mean like a mental institution?" Alisa asked.

"No no no, none of that." Gavin replied, waving her words off. "It's an Institute for gifted youngsters." He added.

"Gifted, what do you mean?" Broadway asked, having gotten rid of the garlic he had.

"It's better if I show you. But you guys have to _promise _not to tell anyone, okay?" The pseudo vampire told them.

"Who would we even tell?" Lexington asked rhetorically, getting nods from the others.

"... Fair point." Gavin conceded. With that, he suddenly turned into smoke, shocking the group as he went around them and rematerialized on Goliath's shoulders. "Surprise!" The boy chirped, fangs showing.

"Superpowers!" Broadway spoke up. "I've seen stuff like that in the comics that Wildcat loaned me!"

"Yep, and it's not just me, either. There are millions of people like me all around the world." The boy nodded. "Scientifically we're known as Homosapien Superior, or more commonly: Mutants." He added.

"So what's this Institute called?" Alisa asked, slowly starting to connect the dots.

"The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. We're located in Bayville, in upstate New York." Gavin said, getting down from Goliath's shoulders. This immediately made everything click in the detective's head.

"There wouldn't happen to be a girl named Kai there, by chance?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah there is. Why?" Gavin wondered.

"My cousin adopted her five years ago. I'm her Aunt." The woman told him. "My name is detective Alisa Maza, by the way."

"... Well, this is unexpected. Not complaining, though. Nice to meet you." He said as he shook her hand. "Where's here, by the way?" He asked as he looked around.

"The clock tower over the Manhattan police department." Alisa told him. "So, Gavin, do you know how you may have ended up here?"

"Not really, all I remember is going into my coffin to take my usual noontime nap before…" He then facepalmed as the realization came to him. "The HYDRA funeral…" He finished.

"Um… What?" The policewoman asked in confusion, which was shared by all the others.

"Long story short, HYDRA is an old Nazi organization that had been terrorizing us Mutants for years on end. At least until me and a few friends took them down a few months ago." The pseudo vampire explained. "The funeral was to celebrate that occasion."

"... Why were you throwing a funeral for an old Nazi organization?" Alisa asked blankly.

"It was a mock funeral made to make fun of them." He replied with a shrug. "Though it looks like no one bothered to look inside my coffin to see if I was in it or not." He added with a growl.

"Sounds like you're going to need to have a few choice words with your friends about that." Angela spoke up.

"Yeah…." Gavin nodded before he suddenly looked panicked as the clock struck ten. "Oh no, I just realized something."

"What?" Angela asked.

"My son, Damian, he's about to wake up to get fed any minute now!" He said, looking around for a phone. "And I'm the only one who can get him to go back to sleep!"

"Hang on." Alisa said before whipping out her phone and dialing Kai. After a moment, she picked up. "Kai, is one of your friends suddenly missing?" She asked.

"_Yeah… We accidentally dunked him and his bed into the mouth of the Hudson River by mistake." _Kai answered nervously, causing Gavin to whirl on the policewoman upon hearing her voice and promptly snatched the phone out of her hand.

"You guys are in so much trouble when I get back, you hear me?!" He growled into the phone, startling the girl on the other side.

"_AH! Gavin, I didn't realize my aunt had found you! Are you okay?!" _She asked after calming down slightly.

"Damian is going to wake up to get fed soon, and I'm the only one who can put him back to sleep! Of course I'm not okay!" He said in a distressed tone.

"_Actually, Rogue's already handling it. But he really misses you, so you better get back home soon." _The aquamancer explained.

"Okay, that's taken care of. But I'm not gonna be able to get back easily since I ended up in New York City." He said.

"_Seriously? Wow that river moves fast. Okay I'll tell the others, just stay put!" _Kai told him as she hung up.

Gavin sighed as he gave Alisa back her phone. "This is gonna be a long night…" He groaned.

(Elsewhere)

Roxy was walking towards her room when she was suddenly grabbed and forced into a bag, the figure who grabbed her quickly jumped out of the window and made their way to a car before tossing the bag into the trunk.

As the car drove off, the figure was revealed to be Mystique, who had finally recovered from the beating she had gotten weeks earlier. She then changed shape into that of the scorpion themed girl before walking into the Institute.

(Elsewhere)

In Tibet hours later, Mesmero was now bringing a tied and gagged Roxy to the doors of apocalypse. The girl was devoid of any clothing and she was being forced to look at the gates.

"I have the child, what are your instructions?" Mesmero asked the mutant at the other side of the gates. After a second, the presence of the mutant's mind directed the hypnotist to an Egyptian sarcophagus which slowly appeared in front of the gates. The sarcophagus opened, revealing it had a female shaped mold at its center. "As you wish, master." He said before placing a now struggling Roxy into the sarcophagus, which closed after she was placed in it.

Energy suddenly crackled around the gate and then struck the sarcophagus and caused the girl inside to scream as her body and mind was slowly being forcibly changed.

The birth of Harlot, Queen of the Apocalypse, had begun.

**Dragon Emperor0: I'm really scared for Roxy right now. This is just like those hentai my friends keep sending me links too… which I can't stand.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, and Mystique is taking her place at the Institute. How long 'till she's discovered?**

**Dragon Emperor0: Depending on if Chelsea, Logan or Bast can sniff her out? Probably long enough for what Apocalypse has planned for her to finish. But besides that, it looks like the X-men and the Gargoyles are finally gonna meet soon.**

**ThermalsniperN7: IT HAS BEGUUUUUUUN! *Dramatic lightning strike***

**Dragon Emperor0: *awkward cricket noises* You just sounded like Xanatos did when he said 'It's Alive!' during Cold Stone.**

**ThermalsniperN7: … That was not intentional. Also, I can be dramatic, too!**

**Dragon Emperor0: I know. Anyway, see you guys next time!**


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45: The Vampyr and The Spider**

It was daytime in Manhattan and David Xanatos was currently in his office looking over the footage recovered from his destroyed Steel Clan. The gargoyles had destroyed them again, a truly annoying occurrence to the man to be sure, but nothing out of the ordinary. What really got his attention, however, was what his robotic soldiers had managed to scoop out of the Hudson River.

"Owen, can you enhance that image of the object?" The aunchapanuer asked his loyal assistant.

"Of course." Owen nodded as he enhanced the image. As the two men looked at it as the image enhanced, they saw that it was a rather odd looking black stained and polished mahogany coffin, with silver handles, stickers and decals of all sorts on it, and lastly a silver cross on the lid with two inscriptions on it.

"That's… A rather odd looking coffin." The blonde bespectacled man stated to his employer. "Do you recognize it at all, sir?"

Xanatos looked the coffin's details over before one thing came to mind. "Yes I do. That coffin is actually a specialized bed for a boy at Xavier's Institute. How in the world did it end up in the Hudson River?" He wondered.

"And more importantly, what do the Gargoyles want with it?" Owen wondered. Though as he looked at the picture he became confused. "But why would a boy want-?" He began.

"It's best not to dwell on it." Xanatos explained.

(Elsewhere)

At the police station clock tower, Gavin was in his coffin taking a nap in the shade of Goliath's shadow. And as he slept, his thoughts wandered back to a talk the two had the previous night.

(Flashback)

As both Goliath and Gavin stood at the edge of the clock tower, Gavin's thoughts wondered to when Mystique explained why she did what she did to him, and he still felt conflicted about it, especially with what happened during the night of the act.

"What troubles you, Gavin?" Goliath asked, taking notice of the boy's tense demeanor. The boy looked at him and sighed as he collected his thoughts.

"Sometime last year, a woman by the name of Mystique drugged me. After she did that…" Here he sighed. "She had sex with me against my will, and I'm still being bothered by that." He said, his voice conveying how he felt. "She told me what her reasons were recently, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still being affected by what happened." He added.

Goliath seemed to take this in stride. "And what were her reasons, if I may ask?" He inquired.

"Well, one reason is because she wanted to be a mother again. Now, she's a mutant with the ability to shapeshift so she'd be able to be with anyone she wanted but, thing is I more or less fit her 'type' that is, strong and confident Mutants." The pseudo vampire explained. "The second reason was because, well she knew of these feelings I had for a friend of mine, which were unrequited. So she thought she'd… Try to help me release some of that frustration by letting me use her." He explained.

"And you are angry at her for how she went about it, correct?" The purple gargoyle inquired.

"Yeah, and the fact she actually did it. But with the explanation she gave me I'm more or less willing to live with it." He shrugged. "I just can't seem to let it go."

Goliath hummed in thought as he looked over the traffic below the clock tower. "That is a feeling I am all too familiar with." He stated thoughtfully.

"Seriously? How come?" Gavin asked.

"A thousand years ago, my clan and I were tasked with protecting a castle in Scotland, but one day, we were betrayed by one of them. Half our clan was slaughtered, and after a misunderstanding with the castle's magician, we were frozen in stone until now." Goliath began. "Then I was betrayed by the one I loved the most, and again by Xanatos."

"How did Xanatos betray you?" The pseudo vampire asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Several ways, though in all honesty I've come to see that he has done things for his own self interests. Not out of malicious intent." The gargoyle explained. "That aside, even with all of these betrayals, I have been able to make peace with many of them."

Gavin looked at him and focused his attention on his words. He had made peace with many of the past betrayals against him, even from Xanatos? Perhaps he could learn a few things from the wizened gargoyle in front of him.

"Can you give me an example?" He asked.

Goliath nodded. "Let me tell you of the time I was able to make peace with the human that betrayed my clan, and the magician who cast the spell onto us…" He began as the story was told.

(Flashback End)

Gavin sighed as he smiled in his sleep, he really could learn a few things from the leader of the clan. As his nap continued, he suddenly felt a veracious hunger claw at his stomach, forcing him awake.

"Okay, time to get something to eat." He said as he got out of his coffin, noting that it was nearly sundown, he went to see if there was anything in the fridge, but found nothing. "Maybe I can ask Alisa if she knows a good place to grab something…" He then noticed Broadway. "... On second thought, I'll ask Broadway." He said as the sun slowly set seconds later.

As the sun set, the gargoyles suddenly came to life and destroyed their stone casings. Broadway yawned as he scratched his back, before his own stomach let out a loud growl.

"Looks like it's time for breakfast." The turquoise gargoyle chuckled as he went to the fridge.

"Hey Broadway, wait up!" Gavin said as he followed him to the fridge. Broadway sighed in disappointment as he noted that the mini fridge in the clock tower was out of food. "I was actually wondering if you knew a place where we could get some food."

Broadway looked at Gavin before nodding. "Yeah, I know a few places." He replied.

"Great, I'm starving." The boy said as Broadway put on a trench coat and hat before the two went down to the street. As they walked, the green gargoyle brought his pseudo vampire friend to a hot dog stand that he frequented.

"Hey there Broadway, let me guess, the usual?" The owner of the stand, an elderly man with glasses and a bushy mustache asked him. Due to his poor eyesight he had grown so used to the gargoyle's outfit, never really taking notice of his appearance.

"Yeah. Thanks Stan." Broadway smiles, taking his hotdog, which was on a poppy seed bun, mayo, mustard, onions, relish and a dill pickled jalapeño.

"And what about you, kid?" Stan asked Gavin with a kind smile.

"I'll take mine with mayo, chili, and cheese." He told the man. After he was handed the hotdog, Gavin took notice that the elderly man in front of him looked almost like... "Ya know you kinda remind me of someone, Stan." The boy stated.

"I get that a lot." The man smiled. "So, what brings you to Manhattan?" He asked.

"I doubt that you'd believe me if I told you." Gavin replied as he took a bite of his hotdog.

"Alright, enough said there." Stan shrugged. "You know how long you'll be staying?"

"No clue, really. It happened so suddenly that I haven't the foggiest idea of how long my stay here will be." The boy shrugged.

"Well as long as you're here, I'd be on the lookout for our friendly neighborhood hero, Spider Man." The man informed him.

"Spider Man? Never heard of him." Gavin said while eating his hotdog.

"Wha-?!" Stan stammered. "What rock have you been living under?!" He asked in disbelief.

"The kind that's off of the island." The horror aficionado replied with a shrug. Broadway, meanwhile, finished his hotdog.

"I've actually met him a few times. He's a nice kid." The gargoyle said before someone suddenly appeared next Stan, hanging upside down from a web that was attached to a lamppost.

"Hey Stan, hey there Broadway." A cheery male voice said from behind a red mask with black web patterns on it.

Gavin nearly dropped his hotdog as Broadway and Stan both turned to the figure. "Hey Spidey, how's life been for ya?" Stan asked.

"'Bout as good as it can get in my line of work." He replied before noticing Gavin. "Who's the new guy?" He asked.

"This is Gavin, he uh, got stranded here yesterday." Broadway explained, not exactly lying. Gavin, meanwhile, was still staring at Spider-Man with his currently wide red wine colored eyes. "He's uh, kinda new to seeing the whole public superhero thing." He added.

"I think I can tell." The web slinger nodded.

"Uh, hi. Yeah, I'm used to seeing things like people with superpowers, but not seeing them use them so openly." Gavin nodded. "How… How'd you get yours?"

"Eh, I got bitten by a radioactive spider." The web clad hero said with a shrug as Stan handed him a hotdog. "Hey, get this guys, looks like JJJ's finally started to stop calling me a menace." He said with a chuckle.

"That… Doesn't sound like him." Stan noted with a confused frown.

"I know, right? Normally I'd be over the moon, but this just feels a little off to me. But I'm not gonna complain." Spider Man shrugged as he ate his hotdog.

"Who's JJJ?" Gavin questioned as he finished his hotdog. "He sounds like a real dick." He added with a slight hiss, making Spider-Man subtly take notice of his fangs.

"Jay Jonah Jameson, a real jerk whose in charge of the Daily BugleBugle, he's been trying to turn the public against Spidey for over two years now." Broadway explained.

"Why? Is he jealous that he doesn't have powers, or something?" The pseudo vampire asked in a joking tone.

"Not exactly." Spider Man said. "So, Broadway, how's the rest of the crew holding up?"

"We're doing Okay." The turquoise gargoyle shrugged. That's when a siren suddenly went off.

"Well, duty calls. See you guys later!" The web slinger said before swinging away.

Broadway nodded. "Well, see ya later Stan. Come on Gavin, let's get going." He said as they turned to leave.

"Right behind you." The boy said as the two made their way back to the clock tower.

(Elsewhere)

In Apocalypse's cave, Roxy's muffled screams could still be heard as the transformation ritual was still going. This process had been going on for three days straight, and the girl's mind was getting weaker and weaker with each passing hour. It was only when the day reached noon that the screaming finally stopped and the sarcophagus opened, revealing the girl's changed appearance.

She was now covered in a black exoskeleton armor that covered her head in a Kabuto styled scorpion helmet, covered the entire top half of her torso in the same armor which was very form fitting and showed a fair amount of underboob. It also covered her back, arms (which now had two extra stingers coming out of her knuckles), legs (ending in stiletto heeled exoskeleton boots), and her nether regions in a semi skirt similar to that of a samurai, while the rest of the front of her body was bare, showing her nearly naked front save the piece of armor barely covering her womanhood. Lastly she had a glowing yellow gem set in the middle of her forehead, the source of Apocalypse's control over her.

"At last, the ritual is complete." Mesmero said while looking at the newly enhanced girl. "Now, tell me who you are." He prompted the brainwashed mutant.

"I am Harlot, Queen of the Apocalypse." She replied, her voice sounding like that of a drone.

"And what is your purpose?" The hypnotist continued.

"To destroy any opposition to the cause of my master." She answered.

"Good. Now come, and I shall show you who you are to destroy." He told her, the girl following him obediently out of the cave.

(Elsewhere)

The next day, the X-men had just reached Manhattan, while Kai was trying to call Alisa to try and ask where they could find Gavin. They walked outside of the airport to find said policewoman there, leaning against her car.

"Hey Kai. Are these the people you've been staying with?" She asked.

"Hey Aunt Alisa. Yeah, they are, we came here to get Gavin, is he here?" The girl asked.

"No, but I do know where he is, come on I'll show you." The woman told them as they got in the X-Van (which was sent ahead of them), and followed her to the police station.

As they went up to the clock tower, everyone noticed that it was starting to become night time, which made sense, they had arrived around seven thirty due to a flight delay.

As night fell, everyone bore witness to the Gargoyles coming to life, and of course Gavin waking up from his daytime nap.

After the gargoyles woke up, everyone who didn't know about them could only look at them with gaping expressions of pure shock. They came to pick up Gavin, and got treated to watching gargoyles wake up for their troubles.

"... What?!" Chelsea got out as she looked at the clan of mythical creatures.

Gavin then turned to them as they took notice of the group of Mutants. "Oh hey guys, what took you so long?" Gavin said, hopping out of his coffin and walking over to them, the gargoyles close behind.

"A flight delay, but that's besides the point right now! I mean, seriously! Live gargoyles?! What is going on here?!" Scott exclaimed as he gestured to said creatures.

"Oh, right." The pseudo vampire said before turning to Goliath and his clan. "Guys, meet Goliath and his clan. Goliath, guys, meet my friends, the X-men." He introduced both sides.

"Greetings/What's up?/Hey!/Nice to meet ya!/How are ya lads?/Hi./Bark!" The gargoyles all greeted, or in Bronx's case, barked.

The X-men all waved hello before Damian, who was in Rogue's arms, somehow slipped out of them and then plopped on the ground before he started crawling towards the creatures and his father, and was met by Bronx, who began sniffing him curiously. After a moment, the gargoyle dog began giving the baby some gentle licks, causing Damian to giggle in response as he used his tiny hands to pat Bronx on the head.

"Doggie! Doggie!" The boy giggled happily.

Gavin smiled at the interaction between them along with everyone else before the boy picked up his son and held him close.

"Did you miss me, Damian? Did you miss daddy?" He asked the infant.

"Da da!" The blue skinned baby smiled as he patted his dad's face with his tiny hands. Rogue then ran up to them and hugged them both.

"Ah was scared half to death! I thought you were gone!" She stated in a concerned and relieved voice.

"Hey hey, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere." He said reassuringly before glaring at everyone else. "Mind telling me why you didn't have the common sense to look _inside _my coffin before using it for that mock funeral?!" He asked sternly.

"It vas my fault." Kurt confessed. "It vas my job to check to see if you vere still in there, sorry."

"At least you're still alive." Chelsea stated before turning to Alisa. "So you're Kai's adopted aunt, huh? I'm Chelsea Marks, me and your niece are old friends."

"And I'm her sister." Pele added, she had come along because she wanted to meet her new adopted family.

"Hey there, kiddo." Alisa said with a smile as she rubbed Pele's head, causing her to smile.

Xavier, meanwhile, was currently speaking with Goliath as the X-men socialized with the Gargoyles. "I see, so you and Mr. Xanatos are not on the best of terms?" Xavier asked.

"That is correct, Xavier." Goliath nodded.

"Hey guys! Come take a look at this!" Broadway called from inside the clock tower with Evan. "Looks like Xanatos and Fox finally had their kid!"

"Oh this I gotta see." Gavin said as they all ran inside. As they watched the report, they all saw the baby, it was a little boy, younger than Damian by about six or so months.

"That kid is gonna be nothing but trouble for us when he gets older, I'm sure of it." Brooklyn stated.

"Hey, don't give the kid a hard time just because of who his parents are, Brooklyn. He could be the exact opposite of them, for all we know." Alisa said, getting nods of agreement from the others.

Chelsea watched the report before she suddenly felt a shiver go down her spine. "Guys… I just had a bad feeling." She said with a shudder.

"How bad is it, Chels?" Logan asked, feeling a little concerned.

"Like 'oh shit I summoned the devil' kind of bad." The Dragoness said.

(Elsewhere)

Roxy and Mesmero were landing in the middle of Central Park on a steed Apocalypse crafted for her, a multi headed red lion with several horns on each head.

"Here is where we must be. Now, come and-" Mesmero started, though he was interrupted when a green portal appeared and a blue skinned man with white hair and pointed ears walked out of it with a green gargoyle dog with him. This was Oberon, King of the fairies.

"Come Budika, we must find Puck to complete the gathering." Oberon said to the dog. Mesmero looked at the two and got an idea.

"Harlot, attack that man." He ordered Roxy. Roxy obeyed and deployed her stingers before she started charging at Oberon to catch his from behind.

The fairy king heard footsteps from behind him closing rapidly and, on instinct, whirled around and projected a shield to defend himself.

"You dare strike the mighty Oberon? Who are you?" Oberon growled as he faced her, also taking note of Mesmero.

"I am Harlot, Queen of the Apocalypse." The girl droned, standing again with her stingers ready.

"Hmph. You think yourself the monarch of armageddon?" Oberon scoffed. "Don't make me laugh." He added with a condescending tone.

"Harlot, your master demands that you make Oberon bend the knee to achieve his goals, do as you are told and attack." Mesmero prompted, sending a psychic wave to the device controlling her.

Oberon took notice of this and gave the man a disdainful look. "Using a young girl to do your dirty work against her own volition? You, human, are as depraved as they come." He said in anger.

"What I do, I do for my master!" Mesmero retorted in defense of his actions.

"And just who is your evidently depraved master, exactly?" The blue skinned fairy inquired.

"The mighty Un Sabah Nur, the first Mutant. The almighty Apocalypse!" Mesmero said grandly as Roxy again charged in an attempt to attack Oberon. The fairy king blocked her, though surprise was present in his eyes when he heard the identity of Mesmero's master.

'_Un Sabah Nur still lives? I thought he would have died by now.' _He thought as he defended himself from Roxy's onslaught. "It matters not, I have more pressing matters to attend to." He said before backhanding Roxy into a tree and then turning to Mesmero and sending him into a portal to somewhere else.

Roxy slowly got up and then started to clutch her head in pain, the psychic connection was now strained and Apocalypse was fighting to stay in control, which threatened to rip her mind apart. After a few moments, she collapsed to the ground in a heap and lost consciousness.

Oberon looked at the girl and took pity on her, so he removed the control crystal from her forehead and crushed it in his hand before he left her to rest.

But as he left, she slowly came to, and unfortunately she was still under the waning influence of Apocalypse, and it gave her one simple order: Kill all opposition. The girl got up and mounted her stead and flew towards Xanatos tower, she would finish the fight there.

**Dragon Emperor0: A for effort Oberon, but I don't think Apocalypse's control is beaten that easily I'm afraid.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. Dude's had millenia of practice to perfect his mind control, so destroying the crystal isn't gonna be enough to end it. Also, the X-Men are finally meeting the gargoyles! What's gonna happen with them? Only we know!**

**Dragon Emperor0: Yeah, But I can tell you one thing: Mystique's cover is gonna be immediately blown when everyone gets back. And on top of that, if you guys think Gavin isn't able to be beaten based on his past track record? Well this arc is gonna prove that notion dead wrong. Also I bet you guys won't be able to guess who our friend Stan is based off of. And Spider-Man too, he was bound to show up. I mean, New York is his City.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. Spider Man showing up was a huge given. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter!**


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46: The Gathering Pt. 1**

The X-men and the gargoyles were all watching the report about Xanatos's new kid Alex, when it suddenly started to rain. As the rain fell, a bright green light formed in the clock tower and took the form of a woman.

"What the-?! Who're you?" Katerina asked as the woman stepped from. She had mint green skin, blue eyes, yellow hair and was dressed in a pair of Arabic pants, a halter top that left her midsection exposed, and some sort of headdress.

"Lady Titania." Goliath said in recognition. The Queen of fairies looked at him and nodded.

"Greetings, Goliath." Titania greeted, feeling wary as Gavin's had drifted towards Bloodfallen.

"Is there a reason why I seem to recognize you?" The boy asked carefully.

Titania looked at him and seemed to be surprised when she saw him. But simply shook her head. "No, child, you must be mistaken." She then turned back to Goliath. "Oberon is here to retrieve Puck, but we also wish to bring our new grandson, Alexander to Avalon so that he can be trained in the ways of magic. But my daughter is being uncooperative." The woman explained.

"And just how is taking the kid against his will the right answer, exactly?" Johan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly." Katerina and Chelsea snapped in unison, scales and tentacles coming to bear. Titania looked at them before blinking, like she noticed something familiar.

"You are… Mutants, correct?" Titania asked.

"Yes. Is that a problem?" Katerina asked, eldritch energy crackling around her hands.

"No. That is actually just what I need." The woman said as she conjured an image out of mist, showing Roxy in her new Harlot form, with a large prehensile Scorpion tail. "This Mutant has been attacking Oberon for the past hour, and I fear that if something is not done soon, she may harm herself or others."

"Wait, why does Roxy suddenly look like that?" Devin asked in concern.

"Oh, you know her. That should help with detaining her. As for your question, I am unsure of how she suddenly became like this…" She replied as she looked off to the side. "Though I have a strong suspicion that I may know _who _caused it." She finished.

"We have to do something." Devin told the others, evicting a nod from Xavier.

"Yes. We must figure out how this happened." The telepath nodded as he turned to Goliath. "Goliath, will you help us?"

"We will do what we can." He nodded, the rest of the gargoyles agreeing..

"I'll help." Katerina nodded.

"And I'll try and keep Oberon and Xanatos from throwing fists." Gavin added. "I think it's time I tested my power's limits against a god."

"Then X-men, let's move!" Scott yelled as they all got ready to stop an incoming war.

(Later)

Roxy and Oberon were still fighting, and the King of the Fairies was having to really work to avoid her new tail.

"What will it take to make you stop?!" The blue skinned man growled as he dodged another attack.

"_You DIE!" _Roxy yelled as she lunged at him, only to be telekinetically stopped in mid air.

"I got her!" Jean yelled in a strained voice as she held the girl in place.

"That's my cue!" Katerina said as she ran up to the struggling girl in the air. When she was in front of her, she took her Cthulhu form and channeled her power into the younger girl's mind and began getting rid of the influence present within, though not without difficulty. "Who in the world is controlling her?! Their influence is so strong!" She growled as she kept destroying said influence.

"It is the work of Un Saba Nur, the First One!" Oberon told her. "Allow me to assist you, young Eldritch one!"

"By all means! I don't think I can handle this on my own!" She replied as Oberon joined her in purging the influence of Apocalypse from her mind.

Jean unfortunately wasn't able to keep holding her, so when the Scorpion girl dropped, Devin grabbed her with his metal form, but was unfortunately at the mercy of her pheromones.

"Shit! Everyone hold your breath! She's producing pheromones!" Logan yelled. Everyone did so and held their breaths as Katerina and Oberon did their work.

"Just a little longer!" Oberon yelled before he started chanting a spell which seemed to boost both their powers. Roxy screamed as she clutched her head, but as she fell to her knees, Devin held her tightly.

"Let me go!" She yelled, struggling against him.

"No! I made a promise to you and your brothers to keep you safe, and I am going to keep it!" Devin yelled back, holding her closer. The scorpion girl kept thrashing and nearly hit Devin with her stingers a few times but still missed. "I will never let you go, not now, not ever!"

Roxy screamed as light surrounded them both and engulfed them. As it died down, the girl's eyes lost their glazed look and her mind cleared, causing her to fall unconscious in Devin's arms.

Both Katerina and Oberon panted as they finished. The king of fairies used a recovery spell to bring themselves to full power.

"It is finished." He said. "Now, to finish what I started."

Gavin stood between him and Xanatos tower. "I don't think so." He said, drawing Bloodfallen out. "If you wanna steal a baby from its mother like some sort of deranged thief, then you're gonna have to go through me."

"You dare stand in my way?!" The blue skinned fairy growled as he readied his magic.

"Heh." The pseudo vampire chuckled before he charged at Oberon and started slashing at him with his sword and then used his smoke telekinesis to control it so he could fight hand to hand.

While this was going on, the X-Men went to Xanatos Tower with the gargoyles, save Chelsea, who stayed behind to help Gavin in dragon form. After they landed, Xavier went to brief Xanatos on what was happening.

"Xavier? What are you doing here?" Xanatos asked his telepathic colleague as the X-Men entered just as he put up his forcefield.

"We learned of what Oberon intends to do. We wish to help in stopping it." He replied.

"Thank you." Xanatos nodded before turning to Goliath. "And thank you, Goliath." He added gratefully.

"We will not allow your child to be taken." He replied resolutely. "For I know the transformative powers of a child's love. And I would not wish it's absence on anyone, not even my greatest enemy."

"And I do believe that is something we can both agree on." Xanatos smiled, placing a hand on Goliath's shoulder as they walked into Fox the and Xanatos's room to find that Damian and Alex were both playing together in the former's playpen. "Ah, so I see Damian has met Alex." The man smiled.

"Yes, they're getting along very well. I can already see them becoming best friends when they're older." Fox nodded with a smile of her own.

Everyone smiled happily as they watched the two play. Meanwhile with Chelsea and Gavin, the pseudo vampire was getting beaten within an inch of his life by the god of magic. His base form was powerless against Oberon, Level 3 wasn't even a challenge, Level 2 was just barely to hold up for a full thirty seconds, and now Level 1 was really struggling.

Oberon punched Gavin in the stomach, then roundhouse punched him in the face, causing him to crash into a wall, breaking several bones and causing him to cough and spit up a large amount of blood as he fell to his hands and knees before Oberon was distracted by Chelsea attacking him in her dragon form.

'_He's… Too strong, I can't beat him the way I am now. My healing factor is way too taxed, if I can't stop this fight soon, I'm done for…' _The boy thought, trying to think of a way to beat Oberon.

With Oberon and Chelsea, the fairy king was currently forced to wrestle with the Dragoness's jaws to keep from being eaten.

"Now I see why you are so familiar, woman. You clearly have the blood of Tiamat flowing within your veins!" He grunted as he held her maw open.

'_What?! No way!' _Chelsea thought as she tried to bite down on her prey.

With Gavin, the boy shakily got up as his wounds healed, before dropping to one knee. His left arm was still broken, so he couldn't use his sword to cut Oberon off from his magic with the iron in it. And his smoke techniques wouldn't work because Oberon had already figured them out. So that left only one option left.

"No choice, I have to release my final seal… But let's trick Oberon into his own grave…" He said as he slowly got up, clutching his arm. "HEY, DICK OF THE FAIRIES!" He yelled at Oberon. His words nearly caused Oberon to be eaten had he not thrown himself out of her jaws. After recovering, he glared at Gavin.

"You dare insult me in such a way?!" He yelled back angrily. Gavin held up his recovered arm after snapping it back into place and taunted the man.

"You think you've won? You do realize that I'm only using 25 percent of my full power right now, right?" The pseudo vampire taunted.

"What?!" He exclaimed in shock. "Surely you jest!" He denied.

"No, even after removing all my seals so far, they're still restricted because there's one more left and these holding me back." Gavin said as he gestured to his leg and arm weights, before unlatching them and caused them to drop, causing two sets of large holes. "You wanna win? You're gonna have to bypass my last seal and beat me then." He taunted further. "Or are you too chicken?"

That was apparently the straw that broke the camel's back. "INSOLENT MORTAL!" Oberon yelled furiously as he attacked Gavin's last seal with his magic. As it was broken, Titania felt it and her eyes widened.

"No my lord! Do not release the last seal!" She yelled before she was tackled by Chelsea. Gavin roared as his seal was bypassed and suddenly, repressed memories started to flow into his mind.

He had been tested, experimented on, and when the scientists found his power and personality too uncontrollable, he was exiled to the Savage Land by SHIELD for five years, and then everything was sealed away and this order was given to SHIELD by… Titania, in the form of Anastasia Reynard.

The pseudo vampire glowed in a murderous red aura as he glared into Oberon's soul with rage that was unparalleled by even the hulk. With an angered roar, he charged at Oberon and the two clashed.

(Elsewhere)

Roxy slowly woke up and she soon found herself in Devin's arms. "Devin…? What's going on?" She asked in confusion.

"You were brainwashed. What's the last thing you remember before you blacked out?" He asked.

"Someone put me in a sack and then that Mesmero guy shoved me into a sarcophagus in front of some weird gates." Roxy told him.

"And I'm assuming that's where you got your… current look?" He asked with a blush as he looked away.

"Yeah… Do you like it?" The girl purred flirtatiously, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself close to him.

"... Yes." He muttered, his blush increasing.

"Good. And, thanks, for not letting me go." She told him before she kissed him on the cheek. Devin's blush nearly turned atomic as she kissed him, but he just let her do it before continuing to let him sit in his lap.

"Hey, I hate to break up the cuddle fest you two, but we got incoming!" Brooklyn said as they saw Oberon being sent flying towards the force field around Xanatos Tower and was subsequently drained by its effects.

"What in the world? What's happening, Brooklyn?" He asked.

"Someone just punched Oberon clear across New York into the force field." The gargoyle said before his eyes widened. "And I think I know who did it."

As the white haired man fell from the force field, Gavin appeared in front of him and started wailing punches at him with incredible speed and power.

"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" The boy yelled as he kept punching over and over.

"What the-?! How did he end up like this?!" The metal mutant gaped in shock.

"Oberon has foolishly released young Gavin's last seal." Titania said as she appeared in the room. "Had he not done so, he would have beaten the boy easily, but now, Gavin's powers are a match to my lord, so this fight is up to fate now." She added.

"I hope my brother can overpower him, then." Devin said hopefully as he watched the two fight.

"Then I hope you are willing to live with the consequences of your actions." Titania said as she disappeared.

Outside Gavin was now receiving a pummeling from Oberon, true to his wife's words, Oberon and Gavin were now on equal ground now, and it was nearly impossible to tell who would be the victor. But as the battle was taken to the skies, Gavin suddenly side-kicked the blue skinned man in the stomach so hard, he was sent flying and crashing into the Statue of Liberty.

"This boy, he is no child, he is a monster!" The king of fairies said as he watched Gavin fly up into the air on a smoke cloud and roared like a vampiric beast as the red aura around him exploded and colored the night sky red.

"I WILL MAKE YOU FEEL PAIN!" The boy roared before he blasted off towards Oberon. It was a battle of the gods now, and who would win between them, well that was anyone's guess at this point. The Gathering was just beginning.

**Dragon Emperor0: Gavin just went full Broly in this chapter. There's no sugar coating it. He's gone Saiyan Level Ape shit crazy.**

**ThermalsniperN7: And now Devin's one step closer to winning the heart of his favorite scorpion girl, who is now free from Apocalypse's control.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Tune in next time for The Gathering pt. 2, and see who wins. I know it may seem like Gavin has it in the bag, but keep in mind, Oberon's also a trickster just as much as he is a powerhouse. So it could go either way at this point. Plus, you guys do realize that Gavin's only just now getting the upper hand right? All his other levels were child's play for the King of Fairies. This isn't clear cut here. **

**ThermalsniperN7: Exactly. There's bound to be numerous turning points here and there, so it'll literally be rocking around here.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Also, Chelsea's a descendant of Tiamat. Anyone else see that coming? I sure didn't.**

**ThermalsniperN7: That's gonna be the main subject of discussion after this is all over. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter!**


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47: The Gathering pt. 2**

_Oberon vs Gavin: Stranded by Fabvl_

Gavin flew towards Oberon on his newly formed smoke cloud and delivered a powerful punch to the god of Magic's face, causing him to float backwards. The rage in the boy's eyes was almost as sharp as Wolverine's claws as the two struggled against each other, the pseudo vampire hissing and flashing his saliva coated fangs at the white haired man's face.

'_This boy is truly different from other humans.' _Oberon noted in his mind as he struggled with Gavin. With a mighty heave he managed to get from in front of the Statue of Liberty and then flip Gavin over his shoulder and towards the bay. He then used an energy beam to blast him deep into the water.

Gavin struggled against the beam and then made him smoke swirl around him as he willed it to use the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in the water to convert it into more smoke and then made it swirl around him, causing a whirlpool to form above, which he rose out of before resuming hovering on the smoke cloud he was using before.

"Just how strong are you, Mutant?" Oberon asked.

Gavin glared at him as he let out a deep and angry sigh. "I am no simple mutant, Oberon. I AM A GOD!" He roared as he blasted off towards the man again. He was in front of him in a second, his arm reared back for a punch. The fairy king quickly put up his arms to block the blow. He succeeded, but the force behind it still sent him flying.

The destination he was sent to was the ground below the Empire State Building, which Gavin appeared right in front of him again and kicked him towards the sky, sending him crashing through every floor and popping out of the spire and the top before Gavin punched him back towards the ground and into an abandoned warehouse. Landing in front of it, Gavin filled the building with his smoke before crossing his arms.

"Almighty PUSH!" He yelled as he extended his arms, causing the building to push inside out around the King of Avalon. And elsewhere, The others were witnessing the whole thing thanks to the Cybots lent to them by Mr. Reynard.

"Is… Is he really this powerful?" Xanatos asked with wide eyes as he watched the feed.

"Yep. He really is this powerful. Me and my sister can confirm that." Johan nodded. Katerina was still outside the barrier, trying to stay out of the fight for as long as she could until she could find an opportunity to make her move.

Rogue, meanwhile, was holding Damian, who was cowering in fear. He didn't like seeing his father that angry, not one bit.

"Shhhh. It's okay, Damian. It'll all be fine." Rogued cooed quietly to try and comfort him.

Meanwhile, Broadway was bringing Goliath and the other gargoyles to see Spider-Man, they were gonna need his help to stop Oberon and calm down Gavin.

"Hey Spidey! Where are you?!" Broadway called as he and the others glided through the skies, Chelsea following close behind with her wings out.

"You'd think a web slinger would be easy to spot from the air. Shows what I know." The dragoness noted as she looked around for Spider-Man.

"He's bound to be around her somewhere… There he is!" Lexington said as he spotted the spider themed hero swinging from his webs around the city, seeing that everyone was asleep.

"Let's go, guys!" Broadway said as he flew towards the masked hero. "Hey Spidey! Up here!" He called the young man.

Spider-Man looked up and waved as he landed on a light post in a crouched position. "Hey guys. Man am I glad to see you, the whole city's fallen asleep!" The web slinger said before noticing Chelsea. "Friend of yours?"

"Chelsea Marks, dragoness. How's it going?" Said woman greeted him.

"Not so good. I just saw two guys duking it out near the Empire State Building before one of them through the other into a warehouse and made it turn inside out!" The boy stated, flailing his arms around for emphasis.

"Oh no, it's getting worse. We need to move, now! Let's go!" Chelsea said, urging everyone to head to the fight.

With Gavin and Oberon, the tables had turned slightly against the pseudo vampire and he was getting batted around like a racket ball, punch after punch and kick after kick he was sent through buildings and skidding through the streets until Oberon used his powers to tie Gavin up by bringing some lamp posts to life.

"I tire of this. Give up now, boy." The man said before conjuring a sword and making it float in front of the boy's throat. "Or die." He told him. Gavin snarled before he turned to smoke and surrounded Oberon before he reformed around the man and let out a loud hiss before sinking his fangs into the man's neck.

"NGH!" Oberon grunted in pain The bite caused Gavin to slowly start to drain the Fairy King's life force, causing him to become progressively weaker. The man groaned as he fell to one knee, his energy drained. Gavin panted as he fell to his knees as well, his strength also taxed. The two breathed heavily as they glared at each other angrily.

"Why… do you… insist on… defying me in… such a way…?" Oberon questioned as he sat there.

"Because... you have... no right... to take... what isn't... yours…. you _pompous_ old buzzard!" The boy growled as he struggled to his feet. The white haired king also struggled to his feet and gritted his teeth in anger, only to smile seconds later.

"You… _Impress _me, young one. Tell me, if you were to defeat me in battle, what would you like as a reward?" Oberon questioned.

"I'll let you know when my mind isn't a mess." Gavin managed to reply as he continued panting. Oberon continued to grin as his strength returned.

"Then let us CONTINUE!" He yelled as he suddenly grew to a massive size and kicked the pseudo vampire clear across the city into the force field surrounding Xanatos tower. Gavin let out a pained cry as he impacted the force field and crashed to the ground, unconscious.

Oberon then started to squeeze the energy field around the building, but its power sapping capacities started to cause him to shrink until he was half the size he was previously, and was then suddenly swarmed by a squad of Steel Clan composed completely of iron.

These robots' attacks caused even more damage and made Oberon shrink even more, using up more of his power. Right around this time, the Gargoyles, Chelsea and Spider-Man showed up.

"Let's see if this guy's okay with being a little tied up." Spider-Man said as he started firing webs at the giant Fairy. Oberon blinked when he felt something hit the side of his face. He moved his hand to where he felt the impact and was surprised to find webbing there.

"What in the world?" He muttered in confusion. The next set of sticky ropes swung and wrapped themselves around Oberon until he was completely tied around him until he was completely tied and unable to move.

"I got him!" Spidey yelled as he swung around Oberon's legs in an attempt to trip him.

"This will not hold me!" The large fairy exclaimed as he started struggling against the webs. The Steel Clan quickly came back around and started blasting away at him, trying to weaken him further. The combination of the two attacks soon caused Oberon to trip and fall, and just in time for the Cybots to surround him and create an energy dampening cage, which sapped even more of his power.

Meanwhile with Gavin, he was slowly trying to get up, but unfortunately for him, his healing factor was overtaxed and he barely had enough strength to stand up. However, his determination and sheer force of will refused to let him give up. He glared up at Oberon as he floated out of the cage and caused it to snow, before he jumped with enough force to shatter the ground under him and grab Oberon and then hurl the two of them through the force field and crash onto the stone castle atop Xanatos Tower.

"I… Refuse… To go down…" The boy growled, fists raised, barely conscious at this point. He was acting on base instincts now.

"Your tenacity is admirable, mutant. The same can be said for your power." Oberon couldn't help but praise. "However, you are at your limit. It would be for the best if you surrendered. You need not harm yourself further." He added with folded arms.

Gavin glared at him before a cascade of blood poured out of his mouth, he had a punctured lung and several broken ribs, which were just beginning to heal. "The way of the warrior, says to accept death, before dishonor." The boy growled. "And I refuse to accept dishonor!" He yelled as he charged at the man in a blind lunge, smoke forming a massive claw around his left arm.

Oberon sighed as he effortlessly dodged the attack and gave Gavin a hard chop to the neck, incapacitating him. "Forgive me, but this is for your own good." He told the unconscious boy. However, he too fell to his knees in exhaustion. "Any longer and I would have surely collapsed… Having to use all of my power against a mortal… I never would have thought it was possible." He gasped in deep breaths. It was then that the barrier deactivated, Xanatos deciding that it was of little use now that Oberon had gotten through it with Gavin.

"Now I think it's time you left." Xanatos said as he stepped out in his Gargoyle armor, which was composed of iron. He then turned to his father and Devin, who were with him. "Pop, Devin, If you would?" He asked.

"Of course, son/Mr. Xanatos." The two replied as they restrained Oberon with the metal mutant using his arms to make a pair of iron cuffs to hold his arms while the entrepreneur's father pointed an iron harpoon at him.

"Now, sir!" Devin yelled. The man pulled the trigger and the harpoon lodged itself into Oberon's chest, causing him to shrivel. "Now for phase two." The metal mutant said before he turned to liquid metal and coated the King of Avalon's entire body in his iron composed body, sapping his power all but completely, and stayed there.

"Bested by mortals… I never thought this day would ever happen." The weakened man said to himself as the gargoyles along with Spider-Man, Chelsea and Katerina arrived.

"Huh, well look at this. Never thought I'd be lucky enough to see this day." The eldritch woman mused as the group approached, getting nods from the gargoyles.

"It is an occasion for the ages, to be sure." Owen nodded as he suddenly came walking out of the castle. He then looked at Oberon with a slight smile. "So, Lord Oberon, did you enjoy your little death match with an Omega Level mutant?" He asked in a rather cheeky manner that Oberon seemed to recognize.

"So, you chose to serve a mortal, have you?" The defeated king asked knowingly. Owen smirked and then started to chuckle before spinning around until…

"Heeeeere's Puck!" A cheeky white haired fairy said as he stopped spinning before he hopped over to Gavin who was currently being held in a protective grip by Chelsea. "Well well well, even when you were on your last legs your full power was able to push his majesty to his limits. Now that's what I call strong! Wouldn't you say, lord?" Puck said while knocking on the boy's unconscious skull before turning to Oberon again.

"I must admit, he has gained my praise for being able to do so. The descendant of Tiamat, who is holding the boy, was another unexpected surprise." He replied, causing Puck to look surprised.

"Wait wait wait, Tiamat's descendant?!" He wondered as he looked at Chelsea, who looked back at him before he looked back at his King. "Are you certain, my lord?" He inquired.

"Quite." The King grunted as Devin finally set him free. Puck nodded before he lept back to the man.

"As interesting as that is my liege, that is not why I am here. I am here because I wish to explain to you why I stand against you now. So as not to incite your wrath." The younger fairy told his boss.

"Then please do explain." Oberon ordered tiredly.

"I'd be delighted to! And I even have visual aids!" Puck smiled, the mention of said aids seemed to excite Damian and Alex, who had somehow figured out a way onto the balcony, much to Rogue and Fox's dismay.

Puck then went on to tell the tale of how he came to take the form of Owen Vaguely and how he came under the employ of David Xanatos. Each of the statues he created as visual aids also kicked Oberon around for good measure, which caused Damian and Alex to both giggle and laugh.

"And when I revealed myself to Mr. Xanatos, I gave him a choice: one wish from the Puck, or a lifetime of service from Owen." The fairy continued. "And to my still eternal astonishment: he chose Owen. I cannot tell you how surprised I was at that."

"And this is why you stand against me now?" Oberon asked irritably, his strength slowly returning.

"Not if you don't force me to. Why don't you postpone the Gathering for a while? I'd be happy to stay behind and train young Alex until then. That way he can stay with his parents and no further violence has to occur." Puck explained.

"That sounds reasonable." Spider-Man said, causing everyone to look at him, and a few of the others to facepalm at his awkward timing.

"Oberon does not negotiate, he COMMANDS!" The King of the fairies roared as he sent a shockwave of magical energy all over the place.

"Alright, that's it! X-Men, ATTACK!" Chelsea yelled as Spyke, Rogue, Kurt, Kitty, Jean, Scott, Devin, Lance, Roxy, Wolverine and Storm all charged at Oberon with her to stop him. Spider-Man and The Gargoyles followed suit.

"Fox, get the kids out of here!" Johan exclaimed as he brought out an iron combat knife. The woman nodded before she picked up Alex and Damien before heading back to the bedroom, both infants giggling the entire time. Katerina followed her to keep her safe as well.

Needless to say, the X-Men were all giving the God of Magic a run for his money, especially with their teamwork. Oberon was mostly impressed with the stronger of the group, but on the whole every member of the team got his attention.

However, when Jean stepped up to the plate, the fairy King seemed visibly worried as Kitty sunk his waist deep in the ground with her intangibility.

'_She is graced by the Phoenix Force! But-How?!' _The man thought as Jean used her powers to blast him repeatedly with telekinetic blasts before creating a dome around him for Scott and Chelsea to let loose their blasts inside. Oberon roared in pain as he was assaulted by the blasts, leaving him with some nasty burns when the attacks stopped.

"ENOUGH!" He yelled as he blasted out of the stone and froze them in place. He glared at all of them before he stomped towards the bedroom after Fox and the children, only to find Xavier and Katerina in his way, along with Fox who had a gun.

"If you expect me to stand by and let you take my son, you've got another thing coming." The gingerette mother said firmly as she aimed her gun at him.

"Stand aside. The child is to come with us." The man told her before his gaze wandered to Damian, who was cowering behind Alex due to how bright the lights were. "As well as that one… He seems to have a magical connection as well." He added, taking a few steps towards the two infants.

"I don't think so!" Katerina growled before sending a wave of eldritch energy at him, causing him to stagger back. As he regained his bearings, he froze when he saw tentacles sprouting out of the floor and walls along with eyes that had six tentacles each floating in the air… And those eyes were all looking right at him.

"W-what in the…?!" He muttered as he looked around and saw them everywhere.

'_He's vulnerable to my powers? Good. Hopefully I can subdue him.' _The eldritch woman thought before sending another blast at Oberon, making his insanity worsen.

At this time, Titania had arrived as well, and the others were finally able to get free of Oberon's immobilization spell, and saw that Katerina had the man cornered.

"Well, looks like Cthulhu's got this handled." Scott muttered, getting Titania's attention.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asked in confusion, his words partially unheard by her.

"It's a name for a rather horrifying fictional creature that our friend over there happens to be a mutant variation of." Evan explained.

"I am familiar. The Old Ones have been a rival of ours for a very long time." Titania nodded. Everyone looked at her in shock.

"Vait, they actually _exist_?!" Kurt questioned in disbelief and a little bit of horror.

"Indeed." The woman nodded as her husband managed to regain his composure, before blasting Katerina back with a spell and conjuring sealed chains to bind her in place.

"Out of my way." He said, knocking both Xavier and Fox aside as he approached both Alex and Damian, but before his hand could touch either of them…

"NO!" Fox yelled as she surprised everyone by sending out a blast of magical energy, sending Oberon through the wall. Titania looked at where her husband was sent in surprise before looking back at her daughter.

"How did you do that?" She inquired.

"I have no idea." Puck said, shaking his head. Everyone else seemed equally confused.

"Okay, so she has magic? Since when?" Chelsea wondered.

"I got nothing." Scott replied with a shake of his head, along with everyone else. Oberon then came back into the room with an angry look on his face.

"Enough is enough!" He yelled as he approached the two infants, only for Goliath to get in his way.

"Wait, your majesty! With her outburst of magic, this entire fight is rendered unnecessary!" He said. The white haired man turned to the hulking gargoyle and looked at him.

"What are you going on about, Goliath?" He questioned, his leg unknowingly right next to Damian who was inspecting the fairy king curiously.

"With Fox's outburst of magic, there is no need for him to go to Avalon. He can stay with his parents and learn how to use his magic here." The purple skinned gargoyle explained.

"And what of the other one?" Oberon inquired, looking down at Damian who seemed to be playing with his cape, and nibbling on it with his still growing teeth.

It was at this point that Gavin slowly started to wake up from his position on Wolverine's back. "... Touch him… And you're dead." He growled before passing out again. Goliath and Oberon looked at him briefly before turning back to each other.

"If he truly has magic, then he can simply learn alongside Alex. There is no reason to tear him away from his own family, either." The gargoyle clan leader explained.

"And if it pleases you, my liege, I could teach the boys." Puck added cheerily, picking up both infants. "I do pride myself on my sunny disposition after all." He smiled as Alex started to pull on his left ear and Damian pulled on his right.

Titania smiled as she went up to Oberon. "Yes, Puck would make a wonderful teacher. And I think that the two would be great influences on each other. Don't you agree, my lord?" She asked her husband.

"Hm… Very well. You shall be their teacher, Puck." Oberon decided. "However, your actions tonight will not go unpunished." He added seriously.

"I understand, my lord, you'll hear no arguments from me." Puck told the man, handing Damian and Alex to Rogue and Fox. "And I also understand if my actions cannot go unpunished of course. After all, I did step a bit out of line." He added sheepishly.

Oberon raised an eyebrow at the latter remark. "Humility? That is certainly new from you." He said before being silent for a moment, looking at the boys, Gavin, the X-men and then Titania he then made up his mind. "Your punishment will be this: you are forbidden from using your powers, save for when you are teaching or protecting the boys, and additionally you shall be henceforth banished from Avalon's paradise until both Xanatos and Alexander's lives are finished. Do you understand, Puck?" He questioned his servant.

"Completely, my liege. I do so appreciate your leniency." Puck nodded with a respectful bow.

"Very good. Now then, come my queen. We must return to Avalon." He beckoned his wife as he undid Katerina's chains, allowing her to move freely again.

Titania nodded before she went to Fox. "I will miss you my daughter, do be well." She told her.

"This still doesn't change what you tried to do." Fox snapped.

"Oh, but who is to say this isn't what I wanted to happen all along?" The Queen of Avalon asked before whispering something into her ear. She then kissed both her daughter and grandson on the cheek before she went to Gavin, Rogue and Damian. "And as for you, young Damian and Gavin. I hope that you will watch over my family in my place. Especially you, little one." She added, patting the blue infant's head as he purred happily. "Do keep an eye on Alexander, won't you?" She asked him.

Damian only responded by cutely patting her nose with his little hands, causing the fairy queen to giggle lightly at the action. With that she then joined Oberon.

"Until we meet again." She said cheerily.

"Which for all of your sakes, best not be soon." Oberon added as the two disappeared. As soon as they were gone everyone collapsed in exhaustion. This was a nightmare none of them would ever forget.

(Elsewhere)

Mystique was in the Cerebro room getting the last preparations ready. Her cover may or may not have been blown while everyone was gone, so she wasn't going to stick around to find out. Once everything was done, she quickly turned into Roxy and exited the school and started walking down the streets before turning back to normal.

Phase one of her plan was complete, now it was on to phase two. Though as she left, another figure hopped onto the Institute grounds. She was a young girl with brown hair, mocha shaded skin, a scrunched up nose and green eyes.

It was Laura, Logan's unknown daughter. And she was here for one thing and one thing only right now…

"Alright dad, time for us to have a little 'talk'." She said as she walked towards the Institute building.

**Dragon Emperor0: And that is it! The arc is finished and boy did Gavin take a massive L this chapter!**

**ThermalsniperN7: No kidding. Seriously, he gets smacked into a force field after breaking a few bones, and decides it's nothing to worry about before throwing himself at Oberon… What a boss.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Next chapter we'll be starting something really special. We're gonna have the X-23 saga start early. Which means Laura will be joining the Institute soon. Heh, and Chelsea is gonna become a stepmom.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, she's probably gonna need some help. I mean, she is getting this dumped on her all of a sudden.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Yep. Anyway, let's see you guys next week!**


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48: The Origin of Laura Howlett pt. 1**

-_SHIELD HQ, Washington DC-_

Exactly a day after The Gathering had occurred, SHIELD was suddenly broken into by an unknown person. As of right now, said person was running away from the HQ building to get away with a disc they had stolen, but was cut off by none other than Johan Sever, aka Omni.

Johan looked at the figure in front of him. The leather suit they were wearing made it difficult to make out their gender, and the helmet they were wearing covered their entire face, the red eye visors zooming in and out depending on the person's apparent visual needs.

"Alright, I'm only gonna ask this once: Who are you, and what are you doing here?" He questioned the figure, holding his AK-47 up, only to get a reply in the form of the figure deploying two adamantium claws on each hand. Johan's eyes widened in recognition immediately upon seeing them. He knew only one person that had those particular claws.

"Please… Let me go." A pained female voice came from inside the helmet.

"... Where will you go?" The man asked, lowering his gun.

"To see… To see my _father_." The voice replied, practically forcing out the last word.

Johan could only sigh. "I know who you're talking about... I know how angry you must be, but try to avoid killing him." He told her.

"I-I'll try." The girl replied, before she sliced a hole into the ground and disappeared into the sewers.

(Elsewhere)

-_Xavier Institute, a couple days later-_

Gavin was currently in the middle of feeding Damian while the two were watching some kid shows meant for developing little minds. Though their Father/Son quality time was interrupted when the pseudo vampire got a call from Johan.

"What is it, Johan? I'm spending time with my son." He asked in slight irritation.

"_I just had a run-in with Laura at SHIELD HQ." _He replied, getting straight to the point. Gavin was in business mode in an instant.

"Where is she now?" He asked.

"_She's on her way to the Institute. Be ready, she seems really unstable." _The man on the other end warned.

"I thought she'd be better after Katerina fixed her mind." He said with a frown.

"_Trust me, even my sis has limits to her powers. She likely couldn't get rid of the anger the poor girl felt towards Logan." _Johan explained.

"Well luckily for the both of them, anger is something I'm well versed in." The boy said as the two hung up, and as if on cue, SHIELD arrived several minutes later. He then picked up Damien and went out to greet the arrivals.

Logan, having been outside at the time doing training with some of the others, also went to see what was up.

"Fury? What're you doing here?" The scraggly man asked. The African man seemed to look at him and Gavin as the two approached with slight apprehension, the latter seemingly getting less of that since he was currently holding an infant in his arms.

"Someone's broken into HQ." Fury explained as Xavier arrived on the scene before turning to Gavin. "Someone who I believe Gavin's already run into before."

"Got it in one." The boy nodded before turning to Logan. "To summarize it, the person in question is essentially your daughter, Logan." He told him, getting a shocked look in return.

"What?!" He nearly shouted before catching himself to avoid making Damian upset.

"Come on, I'll explain inside." Gavin said as he beckoned them to follow him into the Institute. When they were in, they proceeded to take seats before Logan addressed Gavin.

"Mind telling me how this little girl is my daughter?" He questioned.

"Well, apparently HYDRA managed to get some of your chromosomes and clone you from them. Not an exact clone because she had a mother who she inherited several traits from. Her name is also Laura." The boy explained.

"That's where I come in. Go ahead and bring the doc in!" Fury called as some of his men lead a blonde woman with tan skin and green eyes into the Institute. "This is Dr. Debera Riseman, she used to work with our mystery girl's mother."

"Is that so?" Gavin inquired with a frown before turning to the woman. "Did you know what HYDRA was doing to her?" He asked curtly.

"Fully. Believe me, both my partner Sarah and I both regretted what we did to Laura. Especially Sarah, having to watch the life she created from nothing be used like she did, it caused her immense guilt." The woman nodded.

"Wow, a scientist of HYDRA actually having guilt for turning kids into weapons? That's new." Chelsea commented sarcastically.

"I know what I helped do, and I want to at least try to undo some of the damage." Debara sighed.

"Well luckily for you, we've got just the thing to handle it." Gavin said as he got up. "I'll be trying to get Damian here to go to sleep, you guys… Keep an eye out for any crazy green eyed girls with metal claws."

This remark caused everyone to look at him incredulously, but he had already left the room. Logan sighed as he clenched his fists.

'_Dammit! Not again! I can't believe this happened again!_' He thought angrily as Chelsea sat next to him.

(Elsewhere)

Outside in the Institute courtyards, Beast was taking over Logan's training session while he was busy. But up in the trees, Laura was crawling along the branches above them all and just kept watching them, envy filling her green eyes.

She watched as Beast and Jamie swung over a pit before they went into the woodwork. And it caused her to think of the times HYDRA had her fight until she collapsed from exhaustion. Shaking her head, she leapt to the next tree. That's when she saw Sam crash into a tree near her, causing it to fall over.

Deploying her claws, she watched as the boy wobbled away, before retracting them after determining that he wasn't a threat. She then leapt towards the Institute building after everyone had turned in and watched Xavier play chess with Roberto through a window, the sight again making her feel depressed.

But when she entered the building, she almost jumped out of her skin as a tiny purple portal made of dark energy appeared in front of her feet… and little Damian came crawling out of it in a sky blue onesie before he sat up in front of her and looked at her, yawning whilst he rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands.

Laura could only gape at him silently in shock. A baby had already activated his powers? That was _not_ something she expected. Her thoughts were then brought to the tyke as he started crawling towards her and suddenly hugged her leg, nuzzling it like he did with Logan and Chelsea since she reminded him of them. The girl found herself smiling before she picked him up and held him close, albeit a bit awkwardly before the baby rested his head on her chest.

Deciding to continue looking for Logan, Laura continued forward, until she suddenly bumped into someone, and that someone happened to be Rogue.

"What the-? Who are you?" She asked before noticing Damian in her grasp, causing her to narrow her eyes in suspicion. "And why do you have Damian in your arms?" She asked sternly.

Laura seemed to become defensive, quickly holding Damian tighter to her chest, almost like a little girl would possessively hold a doll or stuffed animal.

'_Professor! Jean! Someone's inside and she has Damian, get the others, quick!' _Rogue called out mentally as she got ready Incase this turned into a fight. Laura deployed her claws in her free hand, getting ready to fight if she had to, though she looked like she wanted to avoid that for Damian's sake.

The two stood off for a moment before Gavin, Chelsea, Xavier, and Logan arrived first, and the first of the four was quick to go into 'protective father' mode.

"Laura, I'm saying this because I want to be reasonable. Please give me my son, and we can have a civilized talk about why you're here." He told her calmly, though everyone could tell that it was more of a demand.

"... How do I know this isn't a trap, and you sent this baby to distract me?" She growled, causing Damian to look at her in worry.

"What are you talking about?" Xavier questioned.

"When I entered the building, he came out of some kind of portal at my feet." She explained, causing them to blink.

"Uh, no one here has the ability to make portals, right?" Chelsea asked in confusion.

"Right." Logan nodded, feeling just as confused before a thought came to him. "Okay, this may sound weird, but tell me something: Was that Damian who opened the portal?" He asked Laura, causing Chelsea, Gavin and Xavier to look at him oddly.

"You think his powers are somehow already active?" The aged telepath asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's possible… Well shit." Gavin said before they all saw his son wiggle his way out of Laura's grip and fall into a shadow before falling back through the shadow of the ceiling and into Rogue's arms.

"... Huh?!" Was Rogue's only available surprised response.

Laura then deployed her second set of claws and stood ready to fight as she glared at Logan. "It's all _your _fault! You're the reason I'm like this, _you're _the reason why I was created, and you're the reason my mom is _dead_!" She yelled before she lunged at him, claws forward.

Logan was quick to grab her arms as everyone else got out of the way, and then swung her around before pinning her to the ground with one arm behind her back and the other pinned to the floor by his free hand.

"You need to calm down. How am I even the reason your mom is dead?" He questioned as the girl thrashed around, trying to get free.

"If you hadn't existed, I wouldn't have been made, she wouldn't have been made my mother and HYDRA wouldn't have made me kill her to try and break me!" The green eyed girl screamed, tears running down her face as she screamed like a wild animal.

Xavier looked at the girl in pity, as did the others, and Chelsea couldn't help but feel the suppressed maternal instincts inside slowly start to surface. Gavin and Rogue, meanwhile, were making sure to cover Damian's ears and eyes so he wouldn't become upset.

"Logan, If I may, I'd like to try and calm her mind." The telepath suggested as the man continued to hold his 'daughter' down.

"By all means. I don't think I can calm her down on my own." Logan replied as he held her down. The aged master of telepathy gingerly took the girl's head into his hands as Logan had her lay it on his lap while he started sending calming psychic waves into Laura's mind, slowly causing her brain to stop producing the rage hormones and slowly but surely calm down.

However, this did little to stop the girl from going into a fit of sobbing again as Logan took her into his arms and, awkwardly, tried to hold her as protectively as possible. The others watched the sight sadly before Chelsea came over and hugged Laura along with Logan.

(Later)

It was later that night and poor Laura had finally managed to go to sleep after bawling her eyes out, for over _three hours_. Logan of course never left her side, at least until she fell asleep, then he let Chelsea stay with her and keep her company while she slept. The dragoness actually did a good job at that, constantly watching the girl as she stroked her head and wrapped her tail around the girl's curled up body.

Right now though, both Fury and Logan were raising hell about what to do with her, while Gavin and Johan played the mediators.

"I'm telling you, Wolverine, she's too dangerous! She can't stay here!" Fury exclaimed angrily as he glared at the man.

"She. Is. A. Child, Fury." Logan growled, jabbing his finger on the man's chest with every word. "She's also _my _child, in case you've forgotten, so as far as I'm concerned, she stays _here _with me!" He then snarled again. "I've had enough! As of right now, I am done with not being there for my family, and I'll be _damned _if I ever leave another one of my flesh and blood or a person I love behind for the world to spit on. You hear me?!" The man growled protectively.

"Fury, you know full well how Logan can be when it comes to family, so you might wanna just let her stay." Gavin inputted, causing Fury to look at him.

"You're taking his side?" The man asked.

"I'm not taking anyone's side, I'm just stating the facts." The pseudo vampire shrugged. "And besides, what harm would it do, at least here she'd be out of sight and out of mind for SHIELD anyway."

"He's not exactly wrong, sir. What harm will it do in letting her stay here where she can actually have a family?" Johan inquired.

"Yeah, and besides, we more than owe her that." Katerina added, having also decided to join in the conversation.

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose in aggravation, seeing that he was clearly out voted here. "Fine. But if things go south, I'm holding all of you personally responsible." He told them all.

"Fair enough." The Sever siblings shrugged in unison. After Fury left, Laura was finally able to wake up, and she was quickly brought to the kitchen to get some food so she could meet everyone.

"... Hello." She said sheepishly to them all. Ever since Xavier cleared her mind, her emotions were finally able to slowly start to show themselves. "I'm Laura… It's nice to meet all of you." She added.

Everyone else kind of seemed nervous, before she was cornered by the others she had managed to scare the bejesus out of pretty much all the new mutants. Even Pele was startled when the clawed girl nearly gave her a lobotomy.

"Hey there, Laura." They all said to her.

After an awkward greeting to everyone along with a just as awkward breakfast, Jean was giving her a tour of the Institute. Laura couldn't stop herself from asking questions every now and then, but the redhead took it in stride.

".., You think I'm a monster, don't you?" The green eyed mutant asked her as Jean led her to the room she'd be staying in.

"... Honestly, a small part of me does. But the larger part knows that you never really had a choice in becoming what you are now." Jean replied honestly.

"You mean, you don't hate me?" She questioned. Jean shook her head in reply.

"It'd be wrong of me to hate someone who's very much a victim of circumstance." The redhead explained, opening the door. "And don't worry about the others, they'll come around. Besides, you managed to get Damian to like you, and he tends to be a pretty good judge of character. For a baby, that is."

"Oh." Laura said as she looked around her new room... _Her_ new room. Oh she loved how that sounded. Ever since she was born, she never had anything that was definitely _hers_, but now that she did? ... Yeah, she'd be milking that cow until the rest of the herd came home. "... I love it." She said as Jean asked her what she thought of her room.

She was gonna love it here. She knew that was a fact, for sure.

(Later that night)

Laura tossed and turned as she suddenly was plagued by nightmares. The days she was locked away in isolation, forced to face life and death situations, even when she was left alone as a baby to not experience love. It all caused her to start crying again.

Luckily for her though, her room wasn't too far from Logan and Chelsea's rooms. And upon hearing her crying thanks to their above average hearing, they were quick to rush to her room to comfort her.

The second they were in her room, they wasted no time and immediately had her in a hug to calm her down.

"It's okay Laura, we got you." Chelsea told her, still a bit reluctant to show her maternal side.

"You should have never gone through that. No one deserves to go through what you went through, especially not a child." Logan added. "I'm here, we all are. And we'll be sure to be the family you needed." He told her, stroking her hair softly as she started to calm.

".,, *sniff* Daddy…" She whispered through a few sobs as the two continued to hold her, burying her face into the man's chest and breathing in both their scents. This seemed to calm her enough to where they were able to leave her be, so they left the room.

"I'm going to go check on Pele and Kai to make sure they're doing okay." Chelsea told her boyfriend. "All this is kinda making me worry about those two a bit since they're around Laura's age."

"Probably a good idea." Logan nodded as he turned to go back to his room, and Chelsea to the room of the Hawaiian twins.

(Elsewhere)

A woman in green was sitting at the shattered round table of HYDRA across from none other than Baron Zemo. Both seemed tired, disheveled, and immensely wary. One could say they both looked run down.

"We have to get her-" Madame HYDRA tried to say.

"No." Zemo dismissed tiredly.

"What? Why?" She asked, feeling shocked.

"Look around you, Viper." He told her, gesturing to their ruined headquarters. "Our forces are scattered, our resources spread thin, and whatever holds we had have all been wiped away by this war with Dracula and his forces. I refuse to risk HYDRA's survival on some pet project that was abandoned when our Mutant weapons branch fell!"

"But… There has to be something we can do!" Viper protested.

"There is nothing we can do, _nothing!_ Heir Schmitt, Strucker and Zola are gone. We are all that's left." Zemo stated. "And I refuse to let HYDRA die until I do!"

Viper glared at him before she sighed and got up. "Very well." She then snapped her fingers and a man with a single monocle visor suddenly shot a taser round at Zemo's back before the woman kicked him in the face and knocked him unconscious. "Then I will do it for you." She said with a mad gleam in her eyes. "Gauntlet." She said, addressing the man in front of her who just shot Zemo.

"Yes ma'am?" He responded, waiting for orders.

"Gather Omega Red and Kimura. It's time to prepare for a hunt. The hunt for our elusive little runaway, X-23." She told him.

"Yes, ma'am." Gauntlet nodded before leaving to prepare for the hunt. It looked like HYDRA was going to make one last play to regain their mutant weapon subjects, whether it would work or not was up in the air for now.

**ThermalsniperN7: Okay, so Laura has made a return and has already become a new favorite for Damian and actually got to stay with the gang. On top of that, Gavin's plan to have HYDRA implode seems to be working out pretty well.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Unfortunately though, poor Laura's trauma won't be as easily fixed like with the others so Emma is gonna have to use all her traditional psychology training to help fix her. With a bit of telepathic help, of course. Especially when it comes to Kimura, Laura's old handler from the comics. That bitch was horrible to her.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Well, if I know Katerina (and I do), she's likely gonna jump at the first chance she sees and make Kimura a vegetable for Laura to cut to pieces. That should be fun.**

**Dragon Emperor0: And since she has impervious skin it'll basically make her Laura's scratching post. Yep, I like that punishment**

**ThermalsniperN7: Alright! That's gonna be fun to make happen. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter!**


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49: The Origin of Laura Howlett pt. 2**

_Gavin vs Omega Red: Ten Commandments cypher by None Like Joshua._

It had been a month or so since Laura had joined the Institute, and needless to say she was _very _slowly starting to get her bearings and adjust to life with the others. However, despite her best efforts to go to weekly sessions with Emma, she was _still _having night terrors, however they weren't nearly as frequent as they used to be.

As for how she was getting along with everyone else, she was actually getting along great with Kitty, Rogue, Jubilee and Gavin. The former three were close to Logan so they knew vaguely how to handle her. And then there was Chelsea, and her relationship with the girl was simple: The blonde Dragoness very much acted as a mother figure for her.

When it came to Gavin, the pseudo vampire was the brother she didn't know she wanted until she met him. He made sure to spend some time with her whenever he got the chance and was, funnily enough, being given a small education on cars by him. As for Damian… She couldn't stop herself from thinking about how adorable he was.

But right now she was in the middle of having hair being brushed and styled by Kitty and Jean, which she honestly didn't want because she wasn't into that sort of thing, but unfortunately the two girls wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Seriously, I didn't ask for this." Laura said with a frown as they two older girls continued their work.

"Trust me, you'll thank us." Kitty told her as she continued to trim the girl's hair and Jean continued brushing it. "And done." She said as the two pulled back and showed Laura her new haircut.

It was a fairly short pixie/tomboy cut with her right side being short and the rest of her hair being combed over to the left, creating a fringe over her left eye. It honestly made her look much more cleaned up, and looked better on her than all the long hair she had been sporting.

"... Okay, you two win. This actually looks good on me." Laura admitted as she looked at her new hairstyle.

"Glad you approve." Jean smiled. The redhead had actually become kinda like a big sister to Laura while she was still getting used to things, which really helped her.

A little while later, she joined the New Mutants in a new form of education in the Institute's curriculum: The application of physics and general sciences to the usage of one's powers. This class was taught by Scott and Jean, and she actually quite enjoyed the classes, since she found the concept useful for future combat use.

"Do you guys mind _not _causing such a ruckus? I'm _trying _to pay attention here!" She growled at the New Mutants as they started raising hell during said lesson. Her irritation went mostly unnoticed due to all the noise, unfortunately.

Though this was all interrupted when Gavin and Chelsea suddenly came barging in. "Scott, Jean, is Laura in here?" Gavin asked.

"Right here. What's up?" The girl questioned.

"It's Logan, we think he may be in trouble." Chelsea explained, which made Laura look at her in concern. She _hated _it when her father and trouble were in the same sentence, it gave her serious anxiety.

"Oh no… How bad is it?" She asked as she was led out of the room.

"That's just it, we don't know. He was with me while we were going on a quick run for our monthly restock of our liquor stashes when he caught the scent of something and ran off, then he just disappeared." The woman told her.

"We think someone may have kidnapped him." Gavin added seriously, causing Laura's concern to grow.

"We have to find him. _Now._" She said seriously.

"The professor is already trying to track him with Cerebro, and as of right now, Johan and Katerina are trying to find him with a few SHIELD squads in case HYDRA is responsible." Gavin assured her, hugging her by the shoulders. "Don't worry, we'll find him I promise." He added.

"I hope he's okay." She whispered in worry.

(Elsewhere)

Sure enough, Logan was being pursued by HYDRA after jumping out of a plane and taking a rather bumpy landing. However, it seemed like his healing factor had been slowed for some reason, which he chalked up to being the work of the Mutant he recalled from the Weapon X program Omega Red, and his Carbonadium whips.

Needless to say he was less than happy about the whole situation, _especially _since it interrupted his monthly booze run with Chelsea.

'_Someone is going to die for this!' _He thought angrily as he kept moving. He picked up Omega Red's scent again and growled before running off.

Meanwhile Laura, Chelsea and Gavin were finally able to get towards the general areas where Logan most likely was, however they ran into a problem when they got separated. Chelsea was now face to face with Gauntlet, Gavin was face to face with Omega Red, and Laura was face to face with the one person she absolutely did _not _want to see: Kimura, her old handler.

"Well well well, if it isn't my _favorite _little girl." Kimura said with malice in her voice.

"I still owe you for trying to put me in that goddamn Sensory Torture tank for five years, Kimura. Putting me in storage like some sort of set of extra supplies? Who do you think you are?!" The green eyed girl snarled, deploying her claws.

"Your superior!" The black haired woman shot back with a snarl. Laura yelled as she lunged forward, starting to swipe at the woman in front of her.

With Chelsea, she was busy keeping Gauntlet back with her tail and fire breath while fighting him while her arms and legs were partially transformed.

"Alright one eye, I'm only giving you one chance so you better answer me right: Where did you take Logan?" She growled at the green skinned man below her as she pinned him to the ground.

"Oh he's probably at the mercy of our forces right now, and that's the way it should be." The man said as she angrily tightened her grip around his neck.

"Say your prayers, asshole." The Dragoness growled as her mouth filled with flames.

Meanwhile with Gavin, he was currently using his guns Devil's Ruin and Devil's Scorn to shoot at Omega Red while the man kept attempting to attack him with his Carbonadium whips.

"You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?!" The boy growled as he kept firing. When he ran out of ammo he then switched to using Bloodfallen, which made the two clash angrily as the boy hissed at him, fangs flashing.

"HYDRA was on the verge of bringing order to the world! Then you and your friends came and ruined it in Dracula's stead!" Red yelled angrily.

"They tortured my kind, they violated my family! I refuse to listen to your lies!" The pseudo vampire growled as he decked the man and then uppercut him so hard that he sent him flying into the distance, where the pale skin man crashed into a ravine right on top of Kimura and then was followed by Gauntlet who was dropped out of the sky by Chelsea as the three X-Men were finally able to regroup. Logan also managed to finally find them as well.

"What are you three doing here?" He said, slowly limping towards the three.

"Looking for you." Gavin replied as Chelsea and Laura ran up to him.

"Dad, you're okay! Oh thank god!" Laura said, leaping into the man's arms and hugging his neck tightly.

"Urk! Yeah, I'm fine." He sighed as he hugged his daughter. Chelsea hugged him too, right before slugging him in the arm.

"Next time you smell something weird, don't follow it, alright Wolverine?" She told him, before she noticed that Kimura was getting up. "What do you think you're doing?" The blonde questioned.

That's when the woman pulled out a vile of green liquid, and upon seeing it, Laura looked terrified. "I'm removing any attachments X-23 has developed, by using this." She said.

"No… NO! Not the Trigger scent! Keep that shit away from me!" The girl screamed in horror, trying to back away as far as she could from the vial's possible range.

"You have no choice!" The sadistic woman yelled as she opened the vial and threw it at her, however, Gavin was quick enough to shoot it out of the air and caused it to shatter elsewhere. For added security, Chelsea sent a blast of fire at what was left to get rid of the scent.

"Nice try." The boy said snidely, twirling his gun.

"That's why we have a plan B." Gauntlet suddenly said before he pressed the red button on some sort of remote and then several sonic detonators started sending deafening sounds all throughout the canyon. The group of four screamed in pain as they held their ears before they all fell unconscious.

(Later)

Laura slowly woke up and she found herself in the same Sensory Deprivation/Torture tank that Kimura had put her in all those years ago. She was completely naked, clamps were keeping her arms and legs in place while tubes and injection pipes were all over her body and she was submerged slightly in a green liquid with her head above it as Kimura looked down at her.

"Now you'll become what you were meant to be: A weapon of HYDRA with no feelings, no senses, no free will. You will live and die for HYDRA." She said cruelly as Laura glared murderously at her. "This will make you lose all sense of time, could be days, weeks, who knows." The woman shrugged as she put an electronic sensory deprivation and reprogramming helmet on her. "Here's something to let your senses get lost in." She told her before shoving her in the liquid and closing the lid. "Goodbye, X-23." She said, walking away.

(Elsewhere)

A HYDRA soldier collapsed on the ground as Gavin snapped his neck before he stormed out of his cell, his gear having been in there with him, oddly enough. He was immensely pissed off right now since HYDRA had not only gotten the drop on him and the others, but also thought that they could hold him. He was going to raise absolute hell for this.

"I'm going to kill them all!" He growled furiously. He then started looking around for the others and killed any soldiers that got in his way.

And luckily for him, one appeared, and it was Omega Red. Currently they were standing in what appeared to be the base's fuel storage and power room, which gave Gavin an idea of how he could kill two birds with one stone.

"Alright you Russian reject, you wanna piece of me? Come and get it!" He taunted as he formed a dark dome of smoke around them. "Secret Technique: Endless Nebula!" He said as the smoke made it to where the red clad Russian couldn't see anything, giving the pseudo vampire an advantage due to his night vision.

Red looked around to try and see what was around him, but got nothing except darkness for his troubles. Before he could continue his fruitless endeavor, he suddenly had the air knocked out of him as Gavin sent a blow to his stomach. The boy then sent a kick to his ribs that sent him to the floor. The carbonadium whip user then got up and glared into the darkness.

"Show yourself, you coward!" He yelled. That's when his arms were suddenly pulled behind him and he felt a foot being pressed to his back.

"Ya know, I just noticed something. You seem very fond of these arms, very _attached _to them." The boy hissed in his ear before he pulled back and pushed his foot forward and dislocated Omega Red's arms. Dissipating his smoke dome, Gavin then swung the man around a few times and then hurled him into several oil drums, ripping out his whips in the process.

As the oil dripped on Omega Red, Gavin wrapped the dismembered whips around a neck like two scarfs and then the boy started walking away before he lit a match and tossed it over his shoulder towards the oil and the drums.

"Sayonara, dumbass." Gavin said as the oil ignited. Omega Red screamed as the flames consumed his body and slowly killed him before the drums blew up.

(Elsewhere)

Logan watched on in awe as he watched his girlfriend in her dragon form pin down Gauntlet while she proceeded to eat him alive. To him, it was one of the most amazing things he'd ever seen.

"You done?" He asked her as she licked her Dragonic lips with her forked tongue. She then reverted to her human form again.

"Yep. Now let's go find Gavin and Laura so we can trash the place." She replied before the two started tearing the facility apart to find the scraggly mutant's daughter.

Meanwhile with Gavin, he was currently walking down the hallway with his hands in his pockets right before he came across Madame HYDRA. The sight of the green clad woman made him lick his teeth.

"Finally. The woman who's at the top of my kill list." He smiled wickedly.

"Hmph. You won't be so arrogant when the day is over, you little shit. I still haven't forgotten what your Lovecraftian friend made me see through Sidewinder!" She growled angrily, causing the horror lover to snort.

"Crazy, wasn't it? Heh, trust me bitch, when I'm through with you? You'll be _begging _me to kill you." He grinned as he drew his sword. "Now, EN GARDE!" He yelled as he lunged forward.

(Elsewhere)

Outside the base, the rest of the X-Men, the Sever siblings and SHIELD had just arrived and were getting to work trying to locate their four comrades. And right now, both Johan and Katerina were having hell trying to take down Kimura due to her nigh impregnable skin (which meant she was completely stab, bullet, flame, electricity, and even blunt force trauma proof). A truly annoying situation to be sure. As the fight went on, though, Evan pointed something out.

"Has anyone tried attacking her mind?!" He asked as he nailed a HYDRA soldier to the wall by his clothes.

"Tried that already! Her mental barriers are seriously thick!" Katerina said before she reeled her head back and slammed her skull into Kimura's, causing her to stagger back.

"We'll have to try something else!" Cyclops said as he blasted a soldier away.

"Like what?! Drowning her?" Johan asked as he shot another grunt in the head. This seemed to catch Kimura's attention, clearly she wasn't a fan of drowning, or at least suffocating.

"Ara? Did we strike a nerve, Kimura?" Katerina said, her tentacles finally managing to restrain the woman. "Well then, here's the deal: you tell us where our friends are, or we kill you. Simple as that."

"L-like hell I'd betray HYDRA!" She growled defiantly, thinking she was bluffing… The poor woman had no idea of how wrong she was. "It doesn't matter. Guards! Release X-23! It's time She earned her keep and showed us just how much of a monster she truly is!" She yelled.

The guards did so and suddenly Laura was lead out inside the torture tank, as the liquid drained she was dropped out in nothing but skin tight black shorts and two shock disks covering the caps of her breasts. Vials of trigger scent were dug into and lining her arms, legs and all over her back and lastly she had the same sensory deprivation helmet on. Her claws were deployed and she was foaming at the mouth like a feral animal.

"... You sick demented bastards!" Jean cursed angrily. "How dare you do that to a child!" She added with a growl.

"I couldn't agree more!" Scott nodded with a scowl.

"Sis!" Johan called, drawing the Cthulhu woman's attention to him. "I don't care how tough Kimura thinks she is, STRANGLE HER TO DEATH!" He roared furiously.

"With _pleasure._" The Cthulhu woman growled as she started to strangle Laura's former handler. Right at that moment, Logan and Chelsea were finally able to arrive, but saw they were too late when they saw Laura attack them in her current state.

The girl started attacking the two like a wild man eating wolverine, and Logan, not wanting to hurt his daughter, just let her kick his ass. Chelsea wanted to at least restrain her, but found herself lacking the will to do so. The same could be said for the rest of the X-Men.

Though their hesitation was interrupted as the base suddenly imploded behind them, as if something was pushing it inside out from the inside, and right off the bat _everyone _knew what caused it to happen. It was confirmed when a cloud of smoke flew toward them and reformed into Gavin, who had a satisfied look on his face.

He then raised his arm and showed everyone what he held in his hand: it was the disembodied heads of both Madame HYDRA and Baron Zemo.

"HYDRA… Is DEAD!" He yelled with a proud grin as he let the two heads drop to the ground with audible thuds. He then noticed Laura attacking Logan and Chelsea along with Katerina strangling a thrashing Kimura. "... Okay, how long has this been going on?" He asked the others.

"About five minutes give or take an angry outburst." Johan explained. "So any ideas on how we can stop Laura before she kills someone?"

"We get rid of the trigger scent supply and that sensory deprivation helmet of hers along with any other restraints. If there are any mental problems, Cthulhu and Jean can probably flush them out." Gavin replied. "First though." He then turned to Katerina. "Keep her alive, let Laura be the one to kill her." He told the tentacled woman.

"Okay!" She called back as she relented on the pressure, letting the black haired HYDRA member get the oxygen she needed, but kept her restrained.

With that, Gavin had Kitty go under Laura and trap the lower half of her body in the ground while Devin restrained her arms and then Evan shot his spikes at every vial of trigger scent, and then Roxy used her toxic tail stinger to paralyze her so Kitty could get her above ground and Logan could slowly and carefully remove the helmet.

"Alright Jean, Katerina, do your thing." Gavin told them while Chelsea and Logan held Laura still while Roxy's toxin wore off. The two mindbenders then began setting about undoing all the brainwashing and making Laura's mind into what it was before it was done to her.

The green eyed girl slowly started to stop thrashing before she noticed that she was in her father and (kinda) surrogate stepmother's arms, and upon realizing this, immediately turned around and hugged them both, completely oblivious to the fact that she was basically naked. Deciding to spare her the embarrassment, Gavin draped his coat around her shoulders.

"So… That's it? It's finally over? HYDRA's gone?" The girl asked the two hopefully.

"Yeah… They're gone. It's finally over." Logan nodded with a smile, Chelsea nodding along with her own smile.

"Hey, Laura!" Johan called as he dragged a tired Kimura over by her hair. "Wanna have the pleasure of killing her? You're her victim, after all." He offered.

Laura grinned wickedly and discarded the jacket over her shoulders as the two shock discs accidentally fell from her chest when she leapt on top of Kimura, her hands wrapped around the woman's neck tightly.

"I am not your weapon! I'm not a bullet, I'm not a killer! I'm just as human as everyone else, and my name has never been and will never be X-23! I am the daughter of Wolverine, I am my own person, I am Laura Samantha Howlett! And you have no control over me anymore!" The green eyed girl yelled as her grip tightened with every declaration. Kimura tried to break free, but it was futile. In the end, she died by strangulation.

Upon seeing that her former handler was dead, she suddenly became aware of her current state of dress and let out an embarrassed squeak as she dashed for Gavin's coat and put it back on, blushing profusely.

Everyone of course did their best to cover their eyes, however some of the guys from the New Mutants still couldn't help but stare, namely Bobby and Ray. They were snapped out of it when Johan sent them a warning glare that said 'she's a kid, you damn pervs!' in their direction.

"Well, now that this is out of the way, anyone wanna go home and crash? I'm due for a nap after this." Gavin stated, getting a chorus of agreement from everyone else. With that, SHIELD rounded up any and all survivors they could find and left the ruined base behind.

As they went home, Laura laid her head down on Logan's lap while he and Chelsea stroked her head as she slowly drifted off to sleep. It had been a very long and stressful day for the three, but what mattered to them now was that the girl they called their daughter was safe and with them. Nothing else mattered.

**Dragon Emperor0: I know Chelsea and Logan aren't married yet and probably won't be for awhile, but you gotta admit, even if Chelsea is still apprehensive about having her own kids, she makes a damn good mother.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Damn right, she does. Shame about not being able to make Kimura a scratch post for Laura, though, but hey, she would've been happy either way, so it doesn't really matter. Also, HYDRA's dead! HOORAY! *Launches fireworks and opens a bottle of Sparkling Apple Cider***

**Dragon Emperor0: Yep. *pops a champagne bottle* And next chapter, our favorite couples are gonna be celebrating together, Laura's gonna meet our good friend Peter Parker, and lastly a **_**massive **_**plot twist with Chelsea is gonna be revealed that's gonna turn her, Logan and Laura's worlds upside down.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yep, and it'll be something else. See you guys then!**


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50: Couple's Week at the Institute.**

It was a good week or so since the fiasco that happened with Laura and Logan, and everyone was, thankfully, finally returning to normal. Though right now, the few couples of the Institute decided to take this time to spend time together after everything that happened, and the single people were just trying to enjoy time to themselves.

One of these people was Gavin and Amanda, who were right now spending time with Damian. The blonde haired woman was very much enjoying the fact that she had a grandson to dote on, especially one as adorable as the blue skinned infant currently on her lap.

"Oh just look at you! You're so cute and precious!" The Shirakumo matriarch gushed as she tickled Damian's cheeks, causing him to let out gurgly laughs of delight.

"Gwema!" He chirped, He was learning to talk much quicker than most kids his age, which made Gavin swell with pride with how smart his son was for his age.

"That's right, honey!" She smiled, kissing his cheek. "By the way, Gavin, where's your brother?" Amanda questioned.

"I think he's spending time with Roxy." The boy answered with a shrug.

"Are you telling me one of my boys started dating and I never heard about it?!" The woman said incredulously.

"Don't blame me mom!" The pseudo vampire said defensively.

"I'm not… Though I'm definitely having a talk with this Roxy girl." Amanda stated with narrowed eyes.

(Elsewhere)

Said girl was walking down the streets of Bayville with Devin before she suddenly sneezed, shivering as the feeling of suspicion that someone was talking about her as she leaned against Devin as they walked.

"Something wrong?" Devin asked in concern.

"I feel like someone was talking about me just now… And I suddenly feel the urge to avoid your mom all of a sudden." She replied with a nervous shiver.

"Well she is a bit of a 'helicopter mom'." The boy shrugged. "Hey Roxy, are you sure you're okay? Ever since what happened during The Gathering, you've been avoiding talking about it a lot." He said in concern. The grey skinned scorpion girl sighed, figuring that this would happen sooner or later.

"Remember when I mentioned some weird gates after my mind was cleared up?" She asked, getting a nod in return. "When my mind was under the influence of the one behind it, I just barely managed to get a name." She explained.

"And what was the name?" Devin asked.

"Un Sabah Nur, the first mutant. He also goes by the name Apocalypse, and he's…" Here, she seemed to hesitate. "... My grandfather." She revealed, causing Devin to look at her in total shock.

"Seriously?!" The boy gasped, causing her to nod.

"I think one trait we have in common is that we both have grey skin." The girl told him, she then got a moist towelette out of her pocket and wiped her mouth with it, revealing that underneath her usual lipstick, her lips were naturally blue. "And blue lips." She added.

"Did the rest of your brothers know about this?" The metal mutant asked.

"No, we only knew that one of our ancestors was from Egypt on our dad's side, but we never knew what his name was." Roxy replied, shaking her head.

"Well… This complicates things drastically." The youngest Shirakumo child muttered before shaking his head. "Whatever. Let's just enjoy our walk for now." He said.

"Thanks, Devin." His girlfriend smiled as she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

(Elsewhere)

Johan and Bast were now right in the middle of grabbing something at the same Gaza restaurant they had gone to before, the catwoman using this time to spend time with her friend and, of course, get ready for a big exam she had in her med class.

"I hope you're ready for that exam. I hear the medical types are pretty tough in certain areas." The green eyed man told his friend.

"I've been studying pretty much all month, I think I'll be fine." She told him before she put her books away and then decided to eat what she had ordered.

Johan nodded before he started tapping his foot. "Hey… Bast?" He asked her as she looked up at him from her Shawarma.

"Yeah?" She responded.

"I've been wondering about this for a while now but do you think that after you finish your classes, we could have our next 'outing' turn into… A date?" He asked her slightly nervously. The Gazan catwoman looked at him in surprise at his question before she gave him a warm smile.

"I'd love that." She replied, causing him to look at her with wide eyes before smiling back at her.

"Okay, then. Looks like we have a plan." He nodded while he did a German dance in his head out of happiness.

(Elsewhere)

In the streets of New York, Laura was walking around and looking around. Ever since she was finally able to be free from HYDRA, she had spent that time exploring her surroundings.

As she did, she caught the scent of something delicious. Deciding to follow it she found herself reaching Stan's Hotdog stand.

"Hi, can I get one of those, please?" She asked the man politely as Logan walked up next to her.

"Heh, o' course ya can. What do ya want on it?" Stan asked with a smile.

"Um…" She said as she looked at the options. She then decided to go with a hotdog with chili, sauerkraut, and lastly some onions and mustard. "I'll take the Brooklyn dog." She told him.

"I'll pay for it, too." Logan inputted. Stan nodded before he began throwing the requested order together.

"I thought you were going to spend some time with Chelsea today?" Laura asked as her food was prepared.

"She said she wasn't feeling well so she decided to stay at the Institute." He explained. When Stan handed Laura her hotdog, the green eyed girl almost jumped out of her skin when Spider-Man suddenly appeared behind Stan.

"Hey, Stan. What's up?" The web linger greeted.

"Not much Spidey, what about you?" The man asked as he started making the neighborhood hero his usual.

"Eh, I just got finished stopping the Shocker from robbing the bank again. I tell you, once you've done this superhero thing long enough, it gets really boring." He shrugged before he noticed Logan and Laura. "Hey Logan, who's the new kid?" He asked.

"Hey spidey. New kid's my daughter, and I'm showing her the sights." The scraggly mutant explained, getting an unseen look of surprise from Spider-Man.

"Really?" The boy asked as he looked Laura over, who gave him a 'don't interrupt me while I'm eating' look before nodding. "Yeah, I see the resemblance." He nodded as he took his hotdog and pulled up his mask so he could eat it.

"How old are you, anyway? You sound like you're around my age." Laura asked as she ate half of her hotdog.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, well… I'll actually be turning sixteen in a couple weeks." The boy explained nervously, and with a bit of embarrassment.

Laura nodded as she sniffed the air to make sure he wasn't lying. When she concluded that he wasn't, she decided that he was most likely trustworthy. After all, if Logan could trust him, why can't she?

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Spider-Man." Laura told him with an impromptu smile Kitty helped her with for social interactions.

"You too, Laura." The boy said, scratching the back of his neck nervously, a slight blush creeping its way onto his face underneath his mask. Logan took note of this. He was going to have to keep an eye on these two from now on.

(Elsewhere)

At a hospital outside of Bayville, Marcus was visiting the still comatose Carol Danvers with Rogue, and was dropping off a few small things to have for when she woke up.

"I'll be sure to tell the rest of the group you're hanging in there, don't worry." The man told the unconscious woman.

"And for what it's worth, Ah'm sorry about getting you in this mess in the first place." Rogue apologized sadly.

Though unseen to the two, Carol heard both of them, and she was slowly trying to forgive and forget what happened as her body and mind continued to recover.

(Elsewhere)

Romano was taking a break in the garage with Katerina while the German American woman brought them both a beer.

"So you haven't been in a serious relationship your entire life, just a bunch of one night stands and gangbangs?" The man asked.

"That's pretty much the gist of it. Kinda hard to maintain an actual relationship when you're a mutant in the shape of an Old One." The woman shrugged.

"I kinda figured it was because of your work at SHIELD." Romano shrugged.

"That too." Katerina nodded. The duo toasted before downing their beverages. Romano stopped drinking before he started thinking.

"So would you ever consider entering a relationship with someone? Just out of curiosity." He asked. "I mean would that actually be something you'd wanna do?"

The German American hummed thoughtfully before she turned to Romano. "You offering?" She asked.

"Well, not exactly, but I mean we've known each other for what, four months? I wouldn't see the harm in going on one date to see how things go." The light controlling mutant shrugged.

"When should we have our date, then?" The younger Sever sibling asked.

"Well, we have some extra downtime, so why not sometime this week?" He suggested.

"Sounds good to me." She smiled.

(Elsewhere)

In the bathroom of one of the personal rooms, Chelsea sat on the toilet with a white bar shaped device in her hand and looked at it in shock and disbelief.

"No… No way, it can't be…" She said as she looked at the device in her hands. What was the device? A pregnancy test. And what were the results of said test? They were positive. "... I'm… pregnant." She said to herself in shock as she dropped the test on the floor with a clicking sound.

The question that was in her mind now was, what was she going to do about it?

**Dragon Emperor0: Uh Oh, looks like Chelsea's biggest fear has just been realized… I really hope she doesn't do anything rash.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. This is a pretty sensitive situation here, and she needs to be really careful… But I have a feeling that her fear will make her act out.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Which means that Gavin and the others will have to make an intervention. This is it people, the moment that will make or break Chels's relationships with everyone she's come to care about and love! Let's hope that everything works out. Then after that, comes the Day of Reckoning we've all been dreading…**

**ThermalsniperN7: And it's gonna be something else. See you guys next time.**


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51: Fear and Baby makes Five.**

It was about a month since everyone had taken a 'Couple's Week' off and everyone was now back to doing training exercises and going to school like normal. In fact, right now everyone was leaving the danger room after one such session with Chelsea and Logan, the former of which having been experiencing some odd behaviors as of late. She was moody, had really odd cravings, got into arguments with everyone over the smallest things, got sick during the morning, and when she wasn't taking her hormone medicine, became sometimes violent and would talk with absolutely no filter, more than usual.

"Damn, I'm going to be sore for a week after that." Rogue groaned as she and Gavin stepped out of the elevator.

"I want to say the same, but ya know... healing factor." Gavin shrugged as they walked down the hall to their rooms. "Why do you think Wolverine has been trying to whip us more than usual?

"Beats me. Maybe Chelsea and him got into another fight. The last time I saw him this pissed was when they had their last one." The southern belle noted as they walked.

"Geez, tell me about it. And I thought he was still livid with me after what I did to Zemo and Viper." Gain shuddered, remembering the almost-gutting. "They seem great for each other until you hear them fight, and then it's like two creatures straight outta hell."

"Right?!" Rogue exclaimed. "Then again I can't imagine Chelsea is easy to deal with when she's off her hormone medication." Ironically as she said that the door next to them in the hall opened, revealing the very, VERY tired looking blond. "Speak of the devil..."

"Marks, what happened? You weren't in training today." Gavin asked.

"Good morning to you too," Chelsea grumbled, leaning against the door frame. "Sorry for sickin' the Wolverine on you guys."

"Ah ha! so it is your fault!" Rogue poked jokingly.

"Watch it..." Their mentor warned. "I couldn't come to training so I put him in charge."

"What do you mean couldn't come? Is everything alright?" Gavin asked. "Tell me your mental blocks aren't giving and your PTSD is coming back?"

"Nah nothing like that kid, just uh, food poisoning. I would have been hurling all over the control deck if I was there this morning." She waved off the question. "But despite being kept up all night by me, at least Logan was able to take over."

Rogue inquisitively looked at her. "Food poisoning, what' about ya healing factor?"

"Kid, some things still get to me. Remember when I had a cold and nearly burnt down the institute?" She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Y'all should go shower. You reek bad enough to make me feel like I'll hurl again."

"Thanks." The teen girl sarcastically replied as she and her friend began to walk down towards their respective rooms. As they did so, Gavin kept glancing over his shoulder back at their instructor who was walking the opposite way. "Gav, ya alright?"

"Yeah, yeah just... thought I heard something." The pseudo vampire replied.

A couple days passed and Gavin was still hearing those sounds, a faint thumping sound coming from Chelsea, it wasn't her heartbeat, it was way smaller. After having to deal with it, and the fact that she had been avoiding Logan, which had made the man even more irritated, he decided to finally get to the bottom of it.

As soon as Chelsea got back out of her room after doing her last round of GED homework, The pseudo vampire came up to her. Looking at him in confusion, she decided to ask him what was wrong.

"Hey Gav, what's... Up?" She trailed off when he put his ear to her stomach. "Uh, what're you doing?"

"Just as I thought." The boy nodded as he backed up and crossed his arms. "Chels, I'm gonna ask you this once, and I expect the truth, don't even try to lie, because I'll hear your heart speed up, got it?"

The blonde groaned in exasperation as she facepalmed. "Fine, what?"

"Are you pregnant?" He asked her, causing the Dragoness to drop her books.

"Huh?" She gasped.

"Let me ask again. Chelsea... Are. You. Pregnant?" He asked her, getting closer towards her, his gaze firm and unwavering.

She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to walk away. "Chelsea we aren't done!" He ran up in front of her extending his arms to block her path.

"Yes Gavin, we are." She said firmly, pushing past him.

"So are you?" He pressed

"Gavin we are not talking about this." She snapped.

"C'mon Marks, you can tell me! We're like family. You've been acting off for a week now. Skipping out on training, weird cravings, evading Logan." He crossed his arms with a huff. "How do you think your baby daddy will react if he finds out from anyone else besides you?"

The dragoness stopped in her steps, whirling around and pinning him to the wall. "Listen here pipsqueak," She growled through fanged teeth. "We aren't talking about this. What I have going on is personal business that doesn't involve YOU or ANYONE else. You are going to drop this question, and drop any theories you have about me being... ya know." She faltered at the word as if saying brought a bad taste to her mouth. "Am I understood?"

Gavin glared at her challengingly. "So say hypothetically you were pregnant. What would you do?"

She glared daggers into his red eyes, her grip tightening on him. "Hypothetically, I would abort it."

"And why is that?" Gavin growled, anger clear in his voice.

She set her jaw, trying to keep her cold demeanor. "Parenthood isn't for me. I'm DESIGNED for it, sure, but I am not MEANT for it. I am not ready, never have been and won't be for god knows how long. I have my reasons. Now drop it."

"So you don't want the baby you're harboring now?" He spat.

"Gav-" She tried to protest.

"Save it." He snarled, throwing her hands off him. "I can hear the heartbeat, Chelsea." For a moment a look of panic crossed her face before returning to a glare. She snatched him by the arm, pulling him into the closest door, which awkwardly, was the boys' bathroom. Slamming and locking the door behind them, she shoved him to sit down on the toilet glaring at him angrily.

"Gavin you are not going to say a fucking word about this to anyone." She growled.

He scoffed at her. "It's a free country, you heartless woman."

"Excuse me?!" The Dragoness snapped.

"You heard me." He said coolly before his gaze turned soft. "So how along are you?" Gavin asked. "I mean, I'm no pediatrician but I'm pretty sure that I shouldn't be able to hear a heartbeat yet if you've only been pregnant for about a week."

The blonde was quiet for a second before she hissed. "I'm about a month in..." she told him.

This made Gavin's eyes widen. "*whistle* Wow, and you've kept it hidden from Logan THAT long? Nicely done sis, I'm impressed."

She then glared back at him. "You are not to speak to anyone about this until I figure out what to do, got it?"

"And what? Let you make the biggest mistake of your life? Hell no." He snapped back.

"What are you talking about?" The woman asked.

"I may not look like it, but I knew a girl who aborted her baby. She was a friend of mine who moved to Japan to be with her folks after school was over. She ended up having a one night stand with her boyfriend before she left and found out she was pregnant a week later. Since she knew her parents wouldn't approve and feeling the same way you do, she ended up having an abortion, and you know what happened a few weeks after that?" He asked her.

"... I'm afraid to ask, but what?" Chelsea questioned.

"She was wracked with guilt and she slowly spiraled into depression, first she couldn't sleep, then she wouldn't eat, then it turned to self harm, intentionally starving herself, and endless nights of her crying over her own guilt, and then one day, she decided to end it all. She took a rope and went into the suicide forest, made herself a noose, and then hung herself." He told her with tears in his eyes. "I've seen this cycle happen before, Chels! And I REFUSE to let you go through it!"

"And another thing, didn't you say you aren't a child killer? Well that's exactly what you'd be doing! That's a beating heart inside you now, you stuff it out and you'll become what you say you hate. And it'd be your OWN child, do you really want to live with that much guilt?" Gavin added. "I thought you said you wanted to move on, to start a new chapter in your life, can't you see? This is your chance! Your chance to finally let go of your past and start a new life, and it'd be with someone who'd love you more than anyone ever could. It's like what Goliath once told me: "nothing is more powerful, than the transformative power, of a child's love.", and trust me, I speak from experience when I say being a parent is worth it." He continued passionately.

Chelsea let out an aggravated sigh, running her fingers through her hair. "Please understand I am trying to keep my cool right now." She said through gritted teeth. "You are taking a situation from one person. One. And that person isn't me. I'm not some weak, petty snowflake that can't handle death."

"I don't care that it isn't you!" Gavin barked. "What you're thinking about it wrong and it could destroy you! And another thing, didn't you say you aren't a child killer? Well, that's exactly what you'd be doing!" Without warning, the dragoness's palm collided with Gavin's cheek, making him blink out of shock.

"You're right. I'm not." She hissed in an uncharacteristically quiet tone, despite tears welling up in her eyes. "But THIS isn't a child. THIS is a pack of cells that I don't know what to do with. Gavin..." Her voice began to shake ever so slightly. "Why do you think I'm considering aborting it?"

The boy glared at her, his gaze full of hate. "Did you really just fucking say that? Chels, _I_ was almost aborted! My mom nearly terminated me and Devin because her job had her follow that exact same logic, do you have any idea how heartless and insulting that is to me personally?!" He nearly yelled as he glared daggers at her.

But the longer he looked at the way she was trying to keep herself composed, trying so hard to make herself look confident, past all of it, he saw the real conflict in her eyes. "Wait... You're scared... aren't you?"

"That... that would be an understatement."The blond scoffed as she tried to wipe her tears from her eyes."I just-just... FUCK!"

He facepalmed. "Gad damn it now I feel like a jerk."

She slammed her fist into the wall next to her, making it crack. "I'm fucking terrified! I'm not ready for this! I can't just give my body up again for something I'm not sure about." The tears came back as she slid down the wall onto the floor, her head in her hands. "Kid, you don't understand, this... this is what I've been afraid of for years. I was forced to become this.. this breeding machine. I did everything in my power to make sure I would never fulfill that purpose. I so deeply ingrained into my mind that I WILL NEVER have children, that doing so would be losing myself and my freedom... and now that I'm pregnant I'm just..."

"Confused?" He offered.

"...Yeah..." She admitted quietly. "But ever since Laura came though, part of me wants to take the chance but I'm so scared about what I could possibly do to it. What others would try to do to it... I feel like I can't trust myself- I can't trust Logan, or-or anyone else for that matter!"

"Can't trust Logan? Chels, what do you mean?" Gavin questioned, crouching down to her level as he began to frown. "He didn't hurt you, did he?! Because if he did-"

"N-no," She interrupted, trying to hide her tears. "It's just. He leaves. A lot."

"He hasn't gone off as much since you've been here." The boy assured her.

"That's not the point. The point is that I grew up with that. I know how it feels to have parents that don't spare you the time of day. And his history with his other kids... with Daken..." She met the eyes of her pupil, her own green ones filled with anguish, and her voice ringing with pain. "Besides, what makes me so different from any other whore who's fallen in love with him? Why would it matter to him that I have a kid that's half him in me right now?"

"Because I've seen the way he looks at you. He doesn't see just another pretty face, he sees a woman who's just like him, someone who's been through just as much as he has if not more and can understand where he's coming from better than anyone else ever could." Gavin told her. "That's the difference, that's why he loves you more than anyone he's ever loved, he just never showed until now, it was because he was afraid of hurting you."

"What? How do you know that?" Chelsea gasped.

"I was there when he was arguing with Fury, the Prof and Ororo after the whole X-23 debacle. He's sick and tired of not being there for those he loves, not being there for his kids." The boy explained. "And I heard and saw him swear that if he ever had the chance to raise a kid, and the chance to truly love again. He swore he would not screw it up. He's done with that."

This caused the Dragoness's eyes to widen in shock. Was he serious? "You're... You're sure?" She asked.

"The ears don't lie Chels. He was dead serious when he said it." The boy told her. "And about your parents? Screw them. You aren't them, remember? You aren't tethered to their choices, not guilty of their crimes. You have a chance now where you're able to show them how wrong they were by raising your child the exact opposite of how they raised you. In a loving way with so much attention, that the kid will wanna get away because they're getting smothered."

This caused Chelsea to chuckle. "Not entirely sure if it'll happen exactly like that, but thanks for the vote of confidence."

"And then there's that whole: 'you'll just be doing what they wanted' thing. Bitch, you chose to let yourself get pregnant without a second thought right?" Gavin asked.

"Well kinda but-" The woman tried to say.

"Then it was your choice, not theirs. You knew all this but still decided you wanted it. So why not own up to it? If you aborted this baby, you'll be taking the easy way out, the coward's way out. And I know you Chels, and you are no coward." He then took her hand in his and put it on where he heard the baby's heartbeat. "And how can you say that isn't a life inside you? Can't you feel it? That's something you made, and you're just gonna throw it away?"

Chelsea looked at him and sighed before deciding to concentrate on what he was talking about. A few seconds later, she heard it: *BUM BUM, BUM BUM, BUM BUM* a heartbeat that is definitely not her own.

"No way… I-I can hear it..." She gasped in shock.

"Now do you understand? All children are children. Whether they're born or not." Gavin told her firmly before hugging her again. "And Chelsea?"

The woman looked at him as he broke the hug. "My personal opinion? I think you'd make a wonderful mother." He told her softly. "And if you're still scared, then just lean on me. I've got your back, we all do. The prof, Logan, the others, Bast and them, we're all here for you. You aren't alone, Chelsea Marks, not anymore." He added with a smile. "So it's okay to be scared, but just know that we can get through this together, if you let us help you. We love you Chelsea, you're our family now, you're my family. And I'm here for you, no matter what."

Chelsea looked at him and was barely able to notice the tears that started to slide down her face as her composure continued to crumble. "You idiot…" She said through shaky breaths.

"It's the truth, Chels. I'm not gonna turn my back on you, especially in this crucial moment in your life." Gavin said in a comforting tone.

The blonde sighed heavily as she wiped her eyes. "Alright, I think I'm okay now." She told him as they walked out of the bathroom. "But… How am I supposed to tell Logan? What if he gets angry with me, even after all he's said?" She questioned, her anxiety clearly still plaguing her.

"If that does happen, try to get him to calm down so you can explain yourself." The boy replied.

"Okay, I'm trusting you on this." The blonde told him. Gavin gave her a reassuring smile.

(A few days later)

After she had a few days to really think of what she was going to do, Chelsea went to go find Logan and Laura, once she found them, she sat both of them down in the living room.

"What's up with you, Scales?" Logan questioned.

"Yeah Chelsea, what's wrong?" Laura added with concern. The Dragoness took a deep breath before she looked at them seriously.

"Guys, I know I've been… A little difficult to deal with lately." She started to tell them.

"Not to sound rude, but that's putting it mildly." The scraggly man inputted.

"Will you _please _let me finish?!" Chelsea snapped as her eyes turned draconic for a second before she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Yes, I realize that. So, I think it's time I told you two that I figured out why I'm like this." She managed to explain.

"In that case, what's the reason?" Laura inquired.

"First… I want to know how you'd feel, if you had a sibling come along, Laura." The green eyed woman told her. The tomboy was about to answer when it suddenly dawned on her.

"... You're pregnant, aren't you?" She gasped, causing Chelsea to facepalm.

"I knew I should have started with a subtler opening line." The woman groaned. This of course was the confirmation the green eyed Wolverine girl needed, which in turn caused her to light up like a Christmas tree. Ever since she got to the Institute she had actually begun to show more and more personality traits that most girls her age tended to show, such as: getting excited about just about everything.

"I'M GONNA BE AN OLDER SISTER!" She squealed in delight.

"Wait, hold on, when did this happen?" Logan questioned.

"A month ago before the couples week. You remember when I said I had taken a pill that night after we got Laura back?" Chelsea asked.

"... You were just saying that to get right to it, weren't you?" The scraggly man continued.

"That's pretty much the gist of it. Yeah." She nodded before her face became a scared one, setting off alarms in Logan's head. "But I'm scared. I… I don't know what to do." She said with a shaky voice.

"Why are you scared? This is great!" Laura told her with a smile on her face.

"I was scared that… You wouldn't want me around anymore. And that I was just turning into the breeding bitch they were working so hard to make me. I'm just… Scared, no, I'm _terrified_." The blonde told her boyfriend and his daughter. The two looked at her softly before they surprised her by pulling her into a loving hug.

"You don't have to be terrified. You've got us with you to make sure it all works out." Logan said in a caring tone that made Chelsea's heart skip a beat.

"But, what if I treat the kid like my parents treated me-?" She tried to say before Logan stopped her mid sentence.

"Then we'll make sure that doesn't happen." He told her firmly.

"Yeah. We'll give my future sibling the love they'll need." Laura nodded in agreement.

Chelsea looked at the two with wide eyes before all three of them went back in for another hug. "I don't think I ever told you two this… But I really love you guys." She whispered as she rested her head on Logan's chest and Laura nuzzled her head into the blonde's large D-cup bosom.

She truly was lucky to have these two in her life. As the three separated, Laura leaned down and she could also hear the baby in Chelsea's womb and smiled happily when she heard the sound of her new sibling's growing heartbeat.

"I'm going to be a big sister…" She said in joy as she continued to hug the woman who she believed would be the greatest step mom she'd ever have.

(The next day)

In true Xavier Institute fashion, word of Chelsea's pregnancy spread faster than a wildfire through the California countryside. Beast and Bast immediately decided to take it upon themselves to be Chelsea's medics during the term of her pregnancy. And the others were even quicker to offer their congratulations.

"So does this mean you and Wolvie are gonna be tying the knot?" Lance asked. True to form, he had absolutely no sense of tact… Just like his powers.

"Lance, knock it off!" Kitty snapped, elbowing him in the ribs. Chelsea rolled her eyes at him and looked away.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Richter Scale. We'll cross _that _bridge when and _if _we get there." The dragon woman told him.

"You say zhat like you expect something to go wrong somehow." Kurt commented.

"Just being cautious." The blonde shrugged. "But, who knows? If living here has taught me anything, it's to be as flexible as possible, and to expect the impossible to be possible." She added as she watched Laura hold Mr. T.

"Well, you aren't wrong." Scott admitted with a shrug. Gavin smiled as he let Damian bounce on his leg.

"You excited about being a big sister, Laura?" He asked the Daughter of the Wolverine next to him.

" That's not even a question. Of course I'm excited!" Laura replied with an ear to ear smile.

"As happy as I am that I'm finally gonna have a chance about getting something right about being a dad for once in my life, there's one thing I just can't get past." Logan said, causing everyone to look at him in confusion.

"What's that?" Xavier asked.

"My son, Daken, if he manages to catch wind of this I'm not sure how he'll take it. He isn't exactly very _accepting _when it comes to finding out he has more family to deal with." The man explained.

"What exactly caused him to be that way?" Devin inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"I married his mother before I was put in the Weapon X project. He was cut from her womb eight months after I was taken by a guy named Romulus, and left on the doorstep of a wealthy Japanese couple. But he ended up killing them after he was rejected by them after the woman had a kid. And he's had a grudge against me ever since. We managed to patch things up around five years ago… But he still pretty much can't stand me, or anyone else he's related to." The Wolverine shrugged.

"That is seriously messed up." Gavin said with a shudder.

"You don't think he'd try to kill the baby, would he?" Laura asked worriedly.

"If he does, there's gonna be hell to pay." Evan said seriously. His choice of words got him a smack on the back of his head from Ororo.

"Language, Evan." The weather witch scolded. "... You are correct, though. If he tries that, there will be consequences." She added.

"Damn right." Rogue nodded as she took Damian into her arms and said infant blew a raspberry with an expression matching everyone else's.

"This is gonna be a _very _long eight months." Chelsea groaned as she sat down next to Logan.

"Don't worry, Scales. It'll be worth it in the end." Her boyfriend assured her.

"Yeah, Chels, we got your back." Romano nodded, followed by the rest of her friends.

"Yes. After all, you're an X-Man, Chelsea, and the X-Men take care of our own." Xavier added, getting agreements from the others. The blonde Dragoness sighed in relief. She was glad that her worst fear was finally past her.

(Elsewhere)

-_Stokes Maximum Security Prison-_

Mystique walked over the unconscious bodies of the guards of the Stokes Maximum Security Prison, occasionally stepping on one and digging into their backs or stomach with the heel of her stiletto boots. She opened up the door to one of the cells after taking out a guard and bringing up the prisoner inside, revealing it to be Kane Marko, aka the Juggernaut.

"Wake up Kane, it's time for the Juggernaut to go on the charge." The blue skinned redhead said as she deactivated his container and he slowly started to wake up, his eyes cracking open.

The Day of Reckoning was coming.

**Dragon Emperor0: Goddamn it Mystique, why do you keep on causing problem, after problem, after problem?!**

**ThermalsniperN7: My money's on her possibly being bored, or something like that.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Maybe… Anyway, it looks like our little Howlett family just went from three to four! In eight months we're gonna have a new arrival come around, you excited?! Cuz I am!**

**ThermalsniperN7: It will be a happy day! A happy day, I tell you! *Ahem* Anyway, see you guys next time.**


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52: Day of Reckoning **

Exactly one week after the others Institute found out that Chelsea was a month and a half pregnant, and everyone was doing their best not to upset her frequent mood swings and serious cravings, but other than those two things? The blonde hadn't changed at all.

Right now, she was simply trying to relax while Wolverine went off somewhere in pursuit of Sabertooth, with Gavin following him because the horror fan was quote: dying of boredom.

"Ugh, I swear that boy gets too bored for his own good at times." She groaned as she watched some TV with Laura. Right now the girl was in the middle of texting someone, though she had no idea who.

"Well, I'm gonna head out for a bit, see you later." The girl said as she got up.

"Be careful, Laura." The woman warned.

"I will." She nodded as she walked outside. As she was walking down the street, she soon found the person she had been texting waiting for her outside of the music store. "Peter!" The green eyed girl called as she waved over at the boy standing in front of her. The boy in question turned and saw her coming his way and smiled as he waved her over.

"Hey, Laura! Glad you could make it." He said with his smile still on his face. This was Peter Parker. He and Laura had been hanging out ever since she had somehow managed to figure out his secret identity as Spider-Man by recognizing his scent of all things.

It was well timed too, because at the time she had found out, he was about to commit suicide. Reason being was because at the time his Aunt May had been diagnosed with Appendix Cancer, his long term girlfriend Mary Jane Watson had dumped him for his then best friend, Harry Osborn, and his second girlfriend Gwen Stacy had died when he tried to save her as Spider-Man by his nemesis the Green Goblin via a broken neck… Yeah, it had been a very bad year for the web slinger, to be perfectly frank.

But then when he was about to end it all by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, Laura found him, confronted him, slapped him, gave him a reality check, and in the end… She saved him. It was ever since then that the two had started hanging out, but not actually dating. Poor Peter still wasn't over Gwen yet.

"You doing okay?" The girl asked, hands behind her back as she leaned forward, her fringe falling over her right eye, making her look very cute.

"'Bout as well as I can. Getting over what happened to Gwen isn't easy." He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"What about that bitch, Watson? She still dating that deadbeat friend of yours?" Laura questioned.

"Hey, don't call Harry a deadbeat, he's still my friend, even if he's dating my ex…" The boy sighed. "What about you? Anything big happen with you?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I just found out I'm gonna be a big sister." She chirped.

"... Seriously? Well, congrats. When's the kid gonna be born?" Peter started in surprise before recovering.

"Seven and a half months from now." The girl told him. The boy nodded as they continued to walk.

(Elsewhere)

Logan and Gavin were facing off against Sabertooth in the sewers when Magneto came around and closed a vent cover around Logan, but he was able to slice it apart. Gavin was about to pursue Sabertooth and the master of magnetism, but some sort of robot floated in front of them.

"Okay, who the hell?!" Gavin growled as he glared at the drone. It started to fire odd green gel at them, but it wasn't able to hit Gavin because he kept turning into smoke and redirecting it back at said robot with his sword. Logan, however, wasn't so lucky. He ended up being completely covered in the gel, which hardened in seconds, trapping him.

"Alright that's it!" The pseudo vampire growled as he whipped out his guns and started shooting the robot after loading it with explosive plasma rounds. Explosive rounds proved to do the job since they made the robot crash to the ground. "Alright jackasses! Come out now before I decide to turn this whole place into the world's largest barbecue smoker!" He yelled at the pursuers he had been hearing all over the place. After a moment, several men in what looked like spec ops gear came out, weapons in hand.

"You jacklegs decided to pick with the _wrong _vampire! You guys working for HYDRA?! Didn't you guys learn already? Lord Dracula said if anyone goes after the mutants, he will rain unholy hell down on the transgressors!" The boy hissed as he flashed his fangs.

"We're not with those morons, kid!" A voice replied from the direction of the drone. The boy looked and saw someone climbing out of its wreckage. It was a manned vehicle, apparently.

"The consequences fall squarely on you, then." Gavin spat back. "Like I said, The Dark Lord doesn't take kindly to _anyone _antagonizing his kinsmen." He added as the group's leader decided to step forward, who was a man with slicked black hair and a trimmed mustache. "And Just who the hell are you?" The boy growled.

"I am the one who will protect the human race from the likes of you." The man said before he crushed something in his hand and sprayed it in the pseudo vampire's face, the mist causing him to go unconscious.

(Elsewhere)

Everyone else was in the middle of trying to find Logan and Gavin after they went dark, Emma was even brought in to help with Cerebro.

"Find anything?" Devin asked as his head emerged from the machine. He had merged with it to test out one of his new abilities he got from his prior enhancements: Merging with technology and being able to hack, sabotage or even upgrade it beyond its original design.

"Nothing. It's like they've vanished completely." Emma replied with a sigh as she took the helmet off.

"We have to find them!" Rogue said in worry. Damian, who was in the girl's arms, whimpered softly in worry as well, he didn't like it when his father was gone for too long.

"Da da…" The infant whimpered.

"We'll have to continue looking later, but for now, let's wait until Beast and Storm have finished their investigation." Xavier told them.

"They better find something, that asshole still owes me my lunch of meat, cheese, ice cream and pickles!" Chelsea snapped before her stomach growled loudly, so loud that Laura had to cover her ears. Everyone else in the room looked at Chelsea awkwardly before shaking their heads at her pregnancy cravings.

"Let's get you something to eat." Jean said as she and Bast led her out of the room. As she sat down, she started gripping her head.

"You're worried, aren't you?" Bast asked, recognizing this behavior from the many times worry had overcome her in the time she'd known her.

"Yeah. I feel like those two are gonna be forced into something big, something bad for mutants." The pregnant dragoness sighed tiredly.

"Don't worry, me and the others are here for you." The cat woman told her as Marcus, Romano, Kai and Pele all joined her, knowing just how hard this must be for her.

"Yeah, we got split up once, and I promise that's not gonna happen again, _ever_." Pele nodded, clenching her mechanical fist.

"You got that right." Romano nodded.

"We're sticking together this time." Marcus added.

"Forever and always." Added Kai as they all hugged Chelsea. The blonde sighed as she leaned into their embrace, she was glad that she had so many great friends around her.

(Elsewhere)

Storm and Beast were searching the sewers and after a while of looking for any evidence of their friends, and managed to find the grate that wrapped around Logan, which he had sliced apart.

"Slice marks. Very clean, and very recent. Looks like our man." Beast analyzed. He then took notice of some pistol bullet casings littering the ground. "And pistol bullet casings as well. Gavin was definitely here." He noted.

"Look." Storm said as she picked something up, it was Devil's Ruin and Devil's Scorn, Gavin's guns. "If Magneto captured both of them, what could he have planned?" She wondered.

"Nothing good." The ape-like mutant replied with a shake of his head.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin woke up and noticed that he was shackled, which he easily got out of by turning to smoke and sneaking out and behind a guard and karate chopped him on the side of the neck, knocking him out before grabbing his sword from said guard.

"Okay, now you've just pissed me off!" He snarled as he slashed apart a door and ran around trying to find Logan, and found him being led by the same man from earlier.

Getting his communicator, he started to call the first person who came to mind: Chelsea. "Chelsea, you there?" He asked.

"_Gavin? Oh thank fuck. Where are you and Logan?" _She asked.

"The two of us got captured by some probable anti-mutant extremists and taken to a hidden facility. They may have worked for SHIELD, but I'm not sure." He replied,

"_Should I call Fury and the Sever siblings?"_ She asked.

"Yes. That'd be best. But first, I need your permission so that I may let loose against these fools. I'm ready, I have my sword, I've sharpened the edge, refined the tip and poised it to kill. I will slaughter everyone and everything in my path, but I need your orders. So, what are they, boss?" He asked her. There was a moment of silence aside from Chelsea breathing deeply before she responded… What she said pleased him.

"_You already have them, soldier! You will search and destroy, search and destroy! Any resistance you are met with is to be crushed! The X-Men do not run from their enemies! I want you to leave nothing but bloody stains in your wake!_" The Dragoness yelled.

"HA HA HA HA! The final veil removed! Now that's more like it! You still know how to ignite the flames of passion in my soul. Everyone in this facility will be nothing but corpses and blood stains on every corridor!" Gavin said with a vicious grin. With that he hung up and chased after the soldiers, and found them forcing Logan into the room where a giant robot was waiting.

(Elsewhere)

Everyone was now in the danger room for a mission briefing, and Chelsea had just told Xavier and the others about what Gavin had told her. But everyone was sour because the professor had invited some very unwanted guests: Mystique and the Brotherhood.

"You cannot seriously expect us to really work with them." Scott said with a scowl.

"I'm with Scotty, these idiots are not gonna help things." Lance nodded.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Xavier explained as another group of people entered, which was Alisa, Xanatos, and their Gargoyle allies.

"... Are those actual Gargoyles?" Toad couldn't help but ask with wide eyes.

"That we are." Goliath nodded as he shook Xavier's hand. "It is good to see you again, Professor." He told the man.

"Yes. It is good to see you again as well Goliath. Though I wish the circumstances were better." The man replied.

"What's the situation?" Xanatos asked.

"Gavin and Logan have been captured by a group of Anti Mutant Zealots, and our enemy Magneto has somehow gathered several allies. A few of which I'm sure you're familiar with." Mystique said as he showed the man a picture of a blue skinned female gargoyle with red hair, a gold crown, and was dressed in a torn shirt and a loincloth. The other was a metallic looking gargoyle.

"Demona and Coldsteel." Goliath nodded.

"Hold on, didn't Damian help Puck and Alex make Coldsteel after getting an evil gargoyle's soul into another body?" Rogue asked, remembering when this happened during a play date with Alex.

"That he did." Xanatos nodded.

"Regardless, we need to find all of them and stop both the zealots and Magneto before it's too late." Xavier told them before turning to the New Mutants. "Though you all will be staying here for your safety." He told them.

The kids nodded as they all began to leave, but before Mystique could leave as well, she was stopped by Rogue, Chelsea and Devin.

"What do you three want? We have pressing matters to attend to here." The woman growled at them.

"We want to know _why_ you put Gavin through this hell." Chelsea growled. Mystique was about to ask what she was talking about when she realized what they meant.

"If you want to know, ask him when we find him. I told him why I did it, and I told him the truth. I have nothing to say to either of you." She said as she turned away. "Just know that I didn't do it out of malicious intent." She added.

"Forgive us for finding that hard to believe." Devin commented dully.

"Well it's true. After all, I know what pent up emotions and frustration can do to a person." The shapeshifter said. "And Rogue, do yourself and the boy a favor and figure out your emotions quickly, before things get ugly." She told the auburn haired girl before she left.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin and Logan were currently trying to fight the creation of Trask, the Sentinel. The pseudo vampire now had said man in his grip.

"So, are you telling me that you'll commit genocide on Mutants just like the Nazis did to the Jews?! Are you not even going to spare children and infants from your sick crusade, you deranged fucker?!" The boy yelled.

"Mutants are a plight to the natural order! A contamination to the gene pool! Someone has to do whatever it takes to cleanse the world of your filth!" The evidently crazed man yelled with no remorse.

"You know who also said that? Adolf Hitler." He stated, before holding up a recorder. "Thanks for the evidence." He added, putting it away before throwing him against the wall.

But right as the boy did so, something crazy happened: the ground began to open up and the sentinel was being dragged up to the surface along with Logan.

(Elsewhere)

The X-Men, Brotherhood and gargoyles were all standing off against The Acolytes of Magneto. There was Pyro, a Australian Pyrokentetic who had flame throwers on his back, Colossus, a giant metal man. Gambit, a Cajun bandit, Sabertooth, and finally Demona, Coldsteel, and the remnants of the Pack: Jackal, Hyena, Coyote (a techno organic clone of Xanatos) and Wolf.

Right as they were fighting, the ground started to shake, and everyone turned and saw Logan, Gavin, and the Sentinel being raised. The pseudo vampire had Trask in his grip against and as he rejoined the others, dialed up Fury.

"Fury, does the name Trask ring any bells?" The boy asked as he stood on his quarry.

"_Yes, actually. He went rogue a while back, and we haven't been able to find him since then. Why?" _He asked.

"I have him. His creation, a robot created to kill Mutants called the Sentinel, is trying to destroy Bayville. Can you get the army, marines, anyone to help us take this thing down? Also, I got evidence here so you can pin it on him and not us. Trust me, we _don't _need the government after us!" Gavin told the man.

"_Got it. I'll see who I can send your way." _The Director replied before ending the call. As the call ended, Johan and Katerina dropped in via parachute. Both seemed rather pissed at the moment.

"What's wrong with you two?" Gavin asked as he took his guns from Storm and started shooting at the Sentinel.

"This scrapheap just interrupted my afternoon nap!" Johan growled as he lobbed an impact grenade at one of the knee joints.

"And I just got a call from Romano. The Institute just entered demolition mode." Katerina added., much to Gavin's horror.

"DAMIAN!" He yelled in worry and alarm, his parental side coming into play.

Meanwhile at the Institute, Chelsea, Marcus, Bast, and Romano were all trying to help the kids get to the Cerebro room before the place blew. Laura was quick enough to remember to grab Damian and rush inside, but as Chelsea was about to enter...

**BOOM! **

The mansion exploded and she was blown into the room by the force of the blast, but not without receiving a massive blow to the head after hitting the wall. Bast, Marcus and Romano immediately dashed to her side, worried looks on their faces.

"Chels, you okay?" Marcus asked as he helped her up. The blonde groaned as she got up, and Bast quickly checked her stomach to make sure the baby wasn't hurt.

"Good news: The baby is just fine." She informed them, getting sighs of relief all around.

"Can someone please tell why the hell the Institute went into defcon 4?!" Chelsea yelled while wobbly getting to Cerebro and leaned on it for support.

"No idea." Romano said as he tried to manipulate the light left in the room to give them a better visual.

(Elsewhere)

Back with the others, they were having some serious trouble, and to make matters worse, there were several news choppers capturing everything. Their secrecy was effectively gone.

"Well this is just _perfect_!" Gavin said as he continued to slash at Hyena who had been attacking him since everything started, with Bloodfallen.

"Dealing with the fallout is gonna be _so _much fun!" Toad said sarcastically as he and Blob fought Colossus.

"Hey! Ah think-Get off me ya swamp rat!-Fury's comin' with reinforcements!" Rogue yelled as she flipped Gambit over and pointed at the SHIELD and Marines coming their way.

"'Bout time, boss." Johan muttered as he threw a right hook at Demona, only for her to dodge.

"_**Attention hostile mutants, this is Director Nicholas J. Fury of SHIELD. We have you surrounded, surrender peacefully or we will retaliate." **_Fury said through a megaphone as he appeared in a chopper. "_**As for you, X-Men, stand down. We'll take it from here."**_ He added, addressing the X-Men.

"You heard the man. Stand down, guys." Evan called out as he backed off. But as they did, they all then had to turn their attention to a building where the Sentinel was crashing into, and Devin was on top of it. Magneto was on the building as was Wanda, and all three were caught in the resulting explosion.

Acting quickly, Kurt teleported to them as they were knocked off of the roof and got them back to the others. However, Magneto wasn't so lucky. He seemingly got caught in the blast as the Sentinel fell on him.

"Rest in _pieces_, Magneto." Mystique chuckled.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Wanda nodded in agreement with a pleased smile.

"You crazy ass bitch! You could've gotten me killed!" Devin yelled as he stomped over to Wanda and suddenly turned his arm into a laser cannon before pointing it at her.

"Hey! Do you have any idea of how long I've been waiting to get my revenge on Magneto?!" The HeX mutant yelled back with a glare.

"I don't care! Honestly I think he had the right idea locking you up, you're an absolutely mad woman! Completely mental!" Devin yelled as the marines surrounded them… And unfortunately some of them didn't get the memo that the X-Men were on _their _side, so they started pointing their guns at every mutant and gargoyle in sight.

"Oi, ya damn cranberries! Didn't you get the memo?! The X-Men are on our side!" Johan yelled at the ones who didn't get the message, causing them to flinch before aiming at Magneto's Acolytes, the Brotherhood and the Pack instead.

"We gotta get back to the Institute, _now_!" Gavin said as he pulled his hat back on. "I swear if so much as a _hair _is hurt on my son's head, whoever caused the Institute to explode is gonna _die_!"

Upon hearing his brother's words, Devin's mood immediately changed from being angry at Wanda to being seriously worried sick about his nephew.

"Come on, let's go!" Devin told them as they all started to leave.

"Goliath, you and the others go back to the clock tower, it'll be dawn soon." Xanatos told the gargoyles, placing a hand on his allies shoulder. "I'll handle things here." He added before glaring at the Acolytes.

"Very well. Be careful." The purple skinned gargoyle nodded before leading his clan back to the clock tower.

(Elsewhere)

The X-Men slowly arrived back at the Institute, and found that it was both destroyed and the police were surrounding it, and if that wasn't bad enough, so were both the FBI and more SHIELD guys.

"Oh brilliant." The pseudo vampire grumbled as he looked at the sight.

"Looks like we're not out of the woods yet." Logan growled, before his expression turned concerned. "Chels, Laura, please be okay…" He said under his breath. Gavin's hearing picked up his words and he silently hoped Damian was safe.

"Might as well get this over with…" Evan sighed as they approached the mansion. Immediately, they were all put at gunpoint and the officers even started to put handcuffs on a few before Johan interrupted by shooting his AK-47 in the air.

"Alright, ya damn cream puffs, listen up! These guys live here, and I don't know what's making you put those cuffs on them, but I'm _ordering _you to take them off _now!_" The green eyed SHIELD operative said in an authoritative voice that made the officers flinch before they did as told with some even muttering apologies.

However, an FBI official stepped up. She was a woman with grey haired and a razor scar stretching across her face. "You have no authority here, Agent Omni. These people are suspects in a terrorist plot and we're going to take them in for questioning. Now you can either stand aside, or you can face a court martial. Your choice." The woman told him, making him immediately recognize her.

"_Belova_…" He growled. He knew this woman, this was the same one who almost had his sister have her brain removed and her body kept for dissection when she was discovered as a mutant. "Care to tell me who exactly came to the conclusion that these people were suspected to be part of a terrorist plot?" He asked sternly, suspecting that this was another mutant control attempt.

Belova snapped her fingers and everyone was soon being led into carriers, but Gavin was being belligerent and was trying to attack the people who were trying to take Damian away from him, the baby constantly screaming and crying for his father.

"GIVE ME MY SON, NOW!" He roared furiously, only to freeze when Belova pressed her gun to the infant's soft spot on the back of his head.

"Continue struggling, and this _thing _dies." She warned. Gavin growled and glared missiles at her, his gaze promising vengeance.

The soldiers then forced him into handcuffs and then forced him into the carrier with everyone else, but Johan was quick to grab Damian away from Belova and glare at her.

"Did you seriously just point a gun at an innocent _baby?!_ What is _wrong _with you?!" He snapped as he watched the carriers close, and he saw Chelsea, Logan and Laura hugging, relieved that they were still alive.

"I do whatever it takes to get anyone to cooperate with me." She replied coldly, causing Johan's glare to intensify.

"I wish my sister had made you a vegetable!" He growled as he tried to calm Damian down.

"Is that a threat?" The woman snapped as she got in his face, causing the baby to cower in fear and cry at the bright lights that were around him.

"Considering how you behave, I think it ought to be a promise." The cyborg said, his glare unwavering before he walked away as he tried to shield the baby in his arms from all the lights. "Don't worry, we're getting away from the bad woman." He told Damian softly, causing his crying to lessen as he gradually calmed down.

The X-Men were then promptly driven away to who knows where, but luckily both the Sever siblings had Gavin's recorder and body cam, so they had evidence to make their case to the senate if need be, so now all they had to do was get it to director Fury.

It was all up to them now…

(Elsewhere)

Juggernaut was sitting in a train car when one of the car guards came to force him out. To that the man just got up and stomped away without another word, flipping a car over with one hand as he walked down the highway, with one destination in mind: the local dam.

It was time to show the world that you don't mess with the unstoppable juggernaut.

**Dragon Emperor0: And just like that, the status quo has been destroyed. Good luck returning to normal now. Well, at least Trask is gonna be going away for life, and the recording is probably gonna make most people see just how similar the Anti Mutant movements are to the Nazi Holocaust… Hopefully.**

**ThermalsniperN7: And then there's that bitch, Belova. Yep, she tried to have Katerina's brain removed and keep her body for dissection, in a pickling solution like a frog, but thankfully failed. On top of that, she was literally heartless enough to point a gun at a** _**baby's **_**head! What the actual fuck is wrong with this woman?!**

**Dragon Emperor0: Believe it or not, some people in the FBI are exactly like her… Also can we just take a moment to appreciate how cute a couple Laura and Peter would make? I got the idea from Ghostkaiser24 and GreyKing46.**

**ThermalsniperN7: They do look cute together, not gonna lie. I gotta wonder what'll happen when they actually get together…**

**Dragon Emperor0: Me too. I wonder how the Institute entered DEFCON 4 though? Guess we'll have to wait and see. See you next chapter guys!**


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53: Day of Heroes **

Gavin growled as he and the others were shoved into clear glass cells, and noticed that the Brotherhood and Pack were there as well, but the Acolytes, Coldsteel and Demona were nowhere to be found.

"You really screwed up this time, Mystique." He snapped at the blue skinned woman across from him in another cell. "I was willing to let what happened between us go, but after all this? You'll be lucky if you make it out of this place still intact." He added angrily.

"Yeah, you crossed the line. First you get Gavin to get us out of the Institute, then you impersonate Roxy after giving her to Mesmero, and now we find out you rigged the Institute to blow? What the hell is wrong with you?!" Devin added, feeling just as jaded as his brother was.

"The _plan _was to have Apocalypse enhance Roxy's abilities to where we could use her against him should he be brought back. And as for the Institute, you weren't all supposed to be in there. My plan was to get Magneto and his Acolytes in there to kill them with the explosion." The shapeshifter growled. This caused the Pack to glare at her angrily.

"Did you literally forget that _Damian _would've been caught in the blast, too?!" Rogue interjected furiously, causing everyone who didn't know about that to look at her with wide eyes before glaring at Mystique for her folly. They didn't like the sound of that. Period.

"The virus I put in Cerebro was supposed to allow you fifteen minutes to evacuate, and given how well you managed to escape Asteroid M before it blew, I _assumed _you'd be able to evacuate in that amount of time!" The redhead snapped back. "Let me be clear: had I any other option to kill Magneto, I would not have gone to such lengths at all." She explained curtly.

"Still doesn't diminish that you destroyed our home." Laura snarled.

"Buildings can be replaced. Human lives cannot." Mystique stated. "So we should be grateful that we still have that." Everyone was silent. She did have a point.

Right around that time, the Sever siblings and Fury entered. "Professor, Storm, Beast, Gavin. Come with us, the senate is starting the hearings." Fury told them.

"Please tell me Damian is okay, at least." Gavin practically begged, which no one blamed him for. He was a father fearing for his son's life.

"He's fine. I dropped him off at your mom's place." Johan assured him, causing Gavin to let out a relieved sigh.

"... Good. Let's get this over with then." The pseudo vampire said as he and the aforementioned others were let out of their cells.

(Elsewhere)

At a train station just outside of a town not far from the local dam, Juggernaut was sitting in a train car waiting for the train to stop, but the nap he was taking was soon interrupted by a deputy and the train's conductor.

"He's just been sitting there the whole way here." The conductor told the deputy.

"Hey you! Identify yourself." He ordered the giant man.

Cain Marko glared at the deputy before he got up and put his helmet on. "You wanna know who I am?" He said before he jumped through the car's roof and landed in front of them. "I'm the Juggernaut, bitches." He said before he started walking off, flipping over a police cruiser that was in his way.

"... I'm gonna have to make a call. I think we've got a mutant on our hands." The sheriff said nervously.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin, Xavier, Storm and Beast entered the hall of the senate and immediately they noticed that the Sever siblings were also there, and Trask was there as well, in handcuffs. The second they entered the room, all eyes were on them.

"What is the meaning of this?" The chairman asked in irritation at being interrupted.

"These people are here to make the case of Mutant kind, as well as link this man." Fury explained as he gestured to Trask. "To the terrorist attack on Bayville, and attempted Genocide."

His words caused whispers to go around the room. Everyone wanted to know what the case was, and how they would defend themselves.

"Up first is Ororo Munroe." Fury said as he let Ororo take a step forward.

"Senators, I will make this as brief as I can. We Mutants have lived amongst humans for thousands of years without incident, and have tried to stay under the radar for this very reason. We knew that mankind would want to destroy us as soon as they knew, but we _chose _to try and coexist as peacefully as possible, though whether that is possible or not now is unclear." The Silver haired woman told the group of officials briefly.

"And yet, according to what was found in the Xavier Institute, it seems like you were preparing for war." The chairman stated as he held up pictures of the ruined danger room.

"Actually, if I may interject." Johan chimed in. "That is actually heavy duty training equipment and security technology, which is necessary for helping these kids control their powers by putting them through life and death situations, a process that has yielded exemplary results." The cyborg explained.

"The equipment was sanctioned by SHIELD years ago, so it was never going to be used for what you're implying, Mr. Chairman." Fury added. This explanation seemed to get them all to calm down a little.

"Ah. My apologies for getting the wrong idea, then." The Chairman said apologetically.

"Next is Gavin Shirakumo, who will present evidence to you all linking Dr. Trask here to the Sentinel attack on Bayville." Fury said as Gavin stepped forward and yawned, his fangs now completely visible.

"Well. To start things off, let me just say that this Trask guy? Is a racist asshole, who would have killed innocent _children and infants_, just because they're mutants." The pseudo vampire stated, holding up his recorder. "Observe." He said as he pressed play and Trask's monologue played for all to hear.

The recording played and everyone (well everyone who were decent) was of course appalled by what they just heard, and this luckily included many of the senators as well.

"And this man would try to usher a _second _Holocaust?!" One of the senators shouted, clearly outraged. This man was senator Joseph Jacobs from Nevada, who happened to be the grandson of two Holocaust refugees who immigrated to America during World War Two and was close friends with the Marks family.

"That's exactly right." Gavin nodded as he pulled his hat down. "You see ladies and gentlemen, the way I see it, history is on the verge of repeating itself. How, you ask? Well, take a look at it this way: what do the Holocaust and the Egyptian slaughter of the sons of Israel in the Book of Exodus have in common?" He asked the group of officials.

After a period of silence, he continued. "Answer: Fear. The pharaoh was afraid of the Hebrews because they had grown so numerous that he thought they would one day take over, so he kept their numbers in check and their lands in his control by leaving only the girls. Adolf Hitler also feared the Jews because he thought they would ruin Germany again like they supposedly did after the First World War."

Silence was still there as he then took a pause before continuing. "My point is this: right now, we are at a crossroads. Will the human and mutant races let fear control them and start the cycle of racism and genocide again? Or will we instead try to break the cycle by fostering understanding?... Well, personally I think mankind is better than their mistakes because they know how to _learn _from them. That's my view on it at least." He finished. With his piece said, he stepped down, and went to stand next to the others that came with him.

Xavier was up next. "Well, I'm not entirely sure if I can necessarily add to that, but I will try. Senators, I will be one to say that it is my belief that Humans and Mutants can coexist with each other peacefully, it is why I created my school in the first place. But more than that I also realize that there are and will be those on both sides that will cause trouble, but I think we can all agree that it is unfortunately unavoidable." The man spoke to the room. "That being said, I think it would be a disservice to the brave men and women who came before us to keep equality away from those solely for the gifts they were given, be they human or mutant. And I think we can all agree on that." He finished.

"Well I think you made your case pretty well, Professor." Katerina smiled.

"Yeah. This should appeal to them quite nicely." Johan nodded.

"We will need time to debate on this." The Chairman said, right before a reporter came in and informed the entire room that an escaped convict named the Juggernaut was making his way to a local dam.

"You have got to be kidding me." Gavin groaned. "Of all the times for Juggernaut to go on a rampage, _this _is the _worst _time for it!"

"You know this 'Juggernaut'?" The Chairmen questioned.

"Yeah. We've dealt with him before. Mental attacks on him are the best way to stop him." Gavin replied.

"We need to stop him before he destroys the dam." Johan told the group.

"Help me get the others and we'll go and stop him personally." Gavin said as he and the siblings left with Fury to get the rest of the X-Men.

(Later)

The X-Men all started to leave their cells but the Brotherhood and Pack were all left there, Mystique was the most indignant about this situation.

"Gavin, Scott, I swear if you two leave me to rot here I swear you'll regret it!" The blue skinned shapeshifter yelled at the two as they started to leave.

"Prove it!" Scott called back nonchalantly.

"Suck a cock, Mystique." Gavin retorted as he and Scott left her behind.

(Elsewhere)

The X-Men were now flying at top speed to the dam where Juggernaut was located. Gavin of course got his gear back, so once he had it all he got ready and stood at the drop gate.

"I'll distract him until you guys can land. Devin, Johan. Come with me." He told the two as the gate opened.

"Right behind you." The two in question replied as they followed HYDRA's destroyer.

The three then jumped and the first to reach Juggernaut was Devin, who turned himself into a liquid metal tarp and covered the giant mutant and tried to keep him still as the other two landed. Acting quickly, he converted his chemical makeup into that of mercury, causing Cain's skin to have a severe reaction.

"Gah! This freaking stings!" The unstoppable man yelped slightly.

"Great work, Full Metal!" Johan said as he leapt onto Cain's shoulders and shoved a live grenade in his mouth. "Open wide!" He said as he closed the man's mouth. Cain was forced to swallow it and, the moment it entered his stomach, it exploded. To the man's credit, he didn't get reduced to bloody chunks… Though he was left with the mother of all stomach aches.

"Okay, that _actually _hurts." The man groaned as he fell to his knees while holding his aching stomach.

Gavin was next, taking a step forward he punched Juggernaut in the stomach causing him to hunch over before delivering an uppercut to his jaw, sending him flying and crashing at the other end of the dam, just in time for the others to arrive.

"All right X-Men, it's time to hero up!" The pseudo vampire called as the superhero team began to charge towards their Goliath sized foe.

Kitty quickly phased him through the ground and trapped him, which Kurt followed up with rapidly teleported and undid the clasps of Juggernaut's helmet when the opportunity presented itself. He only got three of them before the man grabbed him and threw him away. Cain then used his massive girth to get himself free.

"What are you trying to do? Embarrass me to death? You can't stop me! No one stops the Juggernaut!" The man yelled as he charged forward.

"We disagree!" Scott exclaimed as he used a precise blast to knock his helmet off and into the water down below. This was followed up by Gavin using Bloodfallen and his fencing training to distract him while Scott fired off another shot, though Cain wasn't going down. He threw a punch at Gavin which he evaded by turning into smoke, and then pushed through Scott's blast.

"You think that'll hurt me?! I'm _RAW POWER_!" The man yelled before Rogue used her new flight and super strength to knock him off balance with a dive and curved side kick.

"Alright, Juggernaut, you want it raw? Then take it raw!" Scott said as he tore off his visor and blasted the man at full power. Though this did little to stop him, as Cain just held out his hand and pushed forward as Scott started to weaken, the grabbed him by the face and slammed him in the ground, however, this meant he didn't notice when Laura stabbed him in the stomach. This caused him to yell in pain before Rogue got on his back and started sapping his strength.

Stab wound still healing, Juggernaut tried to punch Rogue, but his right hook was effortlessly caught by Gavin, who was grinning smugly at him.

"What are you smirking at? You just think you're so cute, don't you? Making fun of me like you're better!" The man yelled.

"Bitch, I'm adorable, and I _am _better." Gavin retorted easily. "Now Stingerella!" He called as Roxy came popping out of the ground behind the giant mutant in her exoskeleton armor before she used her tail and stung him right in a major vein in the center of his shoulder blades. The large man yelled in pain and tried to move but was soon fully paralyzed.

"Alright, Iceman! It's your turn!" Roxy called as Bobby rubbed his hands together and blasted Juggernaut with an ice beam and encased him in a glacier of frost.

"Done and done." The boy smirked as he dusted himself off.

"I'll call Director Fury so he can pick this guy up." Johan told them as he dialed up Fury. Jean went over to Scott and helped him put his visor on, both looking at each other affectionately, which caused Rogue to look away with a sad expression on her face. Gavin saw this and frowned before going over to her and giving her a hug, which surprised her, but she didn't deny it and leaned into his embrace.

(Elsewhere)

Back in the hall of congress, everyone was shocked at what they had just witnessed. Did a bunch of kids take down someone the military couldn't even take down?

"What… What did they just do?" The Chairman asked The Professor and his colleagues.

"They did what we trained them to do: Use their powers for good." Xavier replied.

(Later)

Hours after the X-men had saved the town from the Juggernaut, the President of the United States, Elton Adams, made an official address to the country.

"My fellow Americans, all Americans, human and mutant. Today I speak to you to clear the individuals known as the X-Men of all wrongdoing in the Sentinel attack. The real culprit responsible has been imprisoned and charged with both domestic terrorism and conspiracy to commit mass genocide. Additionally, I have also received word that a new act known as the 'Mutant Equal Rights Act' has just entered congress for debate. Now I ask all of you, to please, treat our mutant neighbors with due respect. Just as they have done for us." The President addressed the nation as the broadcast ended.

In an undisclosed location, Magneto, who had somehow survived the Sentinel falling on him, listened to the broadcast with a small smile on his face. He had initially thought that such an act wouldn't be considered, but as luck would have it, he was wrong. He was also curious about what inspired Gavin to mention two events that hit home to him specifically in his speech?

'_I suppose that's something I need to ask him at a later time.' _The Master of Magnetism thought as he turned away.

Back at the wreckage of the Institute, everyone was standing there while Amanda was holding Damian and hugging her two boys, thankful they were both alive.

"It's going to take a lot of time and money to rebuild this place." Devin mused.

"I think I can convince Nick to help you out at least a little, right~?" The woman asked her one eyed boyfriend, who rolled said eye in exasperation.

"Woman please." He groaned.

"I'm sure I can get David Xanatos to pitch in as well." The Professor added.

"I sure hope so, I mean we _did _help him with Oberon." Gavin nodded.

"I still think we should have given Mystique at least some form of mortal injury." Chelsea huffed, getting nods from mostly everyone.

Everyone looked at the destroyed building and thought back to what the shapeshifter had said. Buildings and possessions, those could be replaced. Human lives could not. With this in mind, they all decided something: they would continue to move forward in this new world, for the sake of all Mutants. After all, there was no turning back now. But this was not the end, but the beginning of a new future, one where they would keep moving forward.

Because who were they? Why, the X-Men of course.

**Dragon Emperor0: And with that the third season is finally here. Wow, Gavin really put those people in their places didn't he? And citing the Old Testament **_**and **_**recent history? Did **_**not **_**see that coming, and I'm the one writing this shit.**

**ThermalsniperN7: How that works, I will never know. Anyway, after something this stressful, it's only natural that something happens to relieve the stress from everyone's minds. Am I right?**

**Dragon Emperor0: You got that right Thermal ol' pal. Brace yourselves people, cuz next chapter Oktoberfest is officially coming to the Institute! *Shipping off to Boston by the Dropkick Murphys starts to play***

**ThermalsniperN7: *Sweat drops* Right… But yeah, Oktoberfest is gonna be coming next chapter. See you guys next time!**

**Dragon Emperor0: In a Drunken Stupor!**


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54: Oktoberfest**

After the President delivered his speech following the X-Men saving a town from being flooded away, it would be an understatement for people to assume that the population was apprehensive about having to accept that Mutants were people they had to live alongside. But for the most part, the vast majority of people were slowly coming around to just treating Mutants like normal, others on the other hand were either refusing to serve them or things of that nature. Simply put? It was civil rights era America all over again.

Now, it was mid October. It was a struggle for the X-Men to rebuild the Institute, and it was even harder to live elsewhere for the duration of the process, but they had help from SHIELD and Xanatos Enterprises to make the process move faster. As an added bonus, while the woods surrounding the construction site were being combed for debris, Gavin's coffin was discovered to not only have survived the blast and get launched into the woods, but Brownie and Mr. T had taken refuge in it to survive. Gavin and Chelsea were overjoyed when they learned of the survival of their pets.

"I still have absolutely no idea how those two managed to get inside your coffin." The blonde Dragoness stated in disbelief as she sat next to Gavin on a couch.

"I had a special door placed on my coffin for Brownie to use to get inside in case of an emergency. He must've picked up on what was going on and went inside. I think the same can be said for Mr. T now." Gavin mused while he held Brownie close, letting the little mammal listen to his heartbeat.

"Well I'm just glad that he's okay." Chelsea nodded as she also held Mr. T.

It was around this time that both Sever siblings entered their temporary abode with Romano, Marcus and Logan right behind them, each carrying with them a pair or two of cases or six packs of various beers and ales.

"Okay, where do we wanna put these?" Katerina asked.

"Preferably somewhere the underage kids of the place won't find them." Logan replied.

"Um, what's going on?" Gavin asked with Chelsea wondering the same while eyeing the collection of booze with an eager gleam in her eye.

"It's Oktoberfest this week." The eldest of the siblings told him.

"Oktoberfest?! Hell yeah! I love that holiday!" Chelsea exclaimed in delight. Booze based holidays were like Christmas for her, so naturally, she took to the German holiday with gusto.

"Yeah, and with all the political crap we went through and what's happening right now, I'd say we deserve a chance to unwind." Romano said with a smile.

"Hooooold IT!" Gavin said before pointing at his surrogate sister. "_You _can't be drinking, remember? You have a baby inside you right now." He told her sternly.

"Seriously? Come on. Let me enjoy my favorite form of beverage." The blonde complained.

"I gotta agree with Gavin on this one, scales. Getting drunk while you're pregnant is a horrible idea." Logan commented.

"I have a healing factor like you guys. As long as I don't get to _my _version of wasted, I think I'll be fine." The woman retorted with a clear 'I'm not budging here' look as she folded her arms… Which was hard to take seriously when she had a two month pregnant belly on her. Johan looked at her for a moment before he sighed.

"Okay, fine. BUT…" He conceded before cutting off the Dragoness's cheer. "You're being supervised. Call me paranoid, but I'm not taking any chances. And I'm sure Logan agrees with me on that." He stated.

"Yeah. Besides, I know exactly how you get when you get drunk, and that's something we don't need around the kids." Logan agreed.

"Hey speaking of, how come we can't go to Hogan's?" The woman asked.

"He had to close the bar because of how tense things still are." Logan explained.

"Oof, that sucks." Gavin commented with a cringe.

"Yeah, let's hope things cool down soon. So I take it that you two are gonna act as the enforcers of the big mandates as they're passed?" Chelsea asked as Katerina and Romano started to put away the alcohol.

"Oh yeah. Me and Johan aren't gonna just stand by and do nothing while shit happens. If a crime against a mutant is carried out, we're gonna take action." The Cthulhu woman said seriously as Romano gave her another bottle to put away.

"Damn straight we are." The green streaked man nodded with a firm look on his face. "We're also gonna make sure that institutions, businesses and companies tow the line. We see so much as a hint of action with discrimination behind it, we ax the fuckers."

"They've also told Bayville restaurants, stores, and even the school that once the mandates are passed, there will be a no tolerance policy against discrimination. Anyone who goes against them will be arrested, shut down or unemployed." Gavin added. "I've been tasked with keeping an eye on Bayville High, particularly the teachers and principal Kelly. If they show any signs of poor attitude? I'll give Johan the evidence and they'll all lose their jobs."

"You guys do not fuck around." Marcus commented in a praising tone.

"No we don't." Johan nodded with a smirk.

"And if a human student of the school attempts to harm a mutant or damage property owned by a mutant?" Chelsea asked, wanting all the bases covered on this topic.

"As long as there's evidence connecting them to the crime? They're immediately thrown in jail for a maximum of nine months, three months if they make bail for an official trial." Katerina explained. The Dragoness snorted at that.

"Good luck to any and all saps who do that in trying to get their dream jobs with that blemish on their records." She joked, causing everyone to chuckle in amusement.

"And attempting to kill a mutant out of discrimination or intentionally committing malpractice or even refusing them needed medical attention or care is punishable with the same penalty as premeditated murder." Johan added as well.

"We're gonna show absolutely no mercy when it comes to enforcing these once they're passed next week." Gavin declared with a grin.

"Good." Bast, who had just entered the room said. "Great news guys, I'll be getting my medical degree next January."

"That's amazing news! Come here." Johan said with a smile before walking up to her and gave her a happy hug, which she returned with a smile.

"Great job, kitten!" Chelsea smiled.

"You earned it." Marcus and Romano nodded.

Meanwhile, Pele was listening with Kai at the other side of the room and then looked at the others.

"Okay so the stuff is in here." Pele told them.

"Which means all we gotta do is get Damian and have him help us get it when he gets back from his play date with Alex." Laura said as she looked at her watch.

"Wait, why do we need him?" Jamie asked, causing everyone to groan.

"Because of his photographic memory. If he gets a good look at where the stuff is hidden, he can lead us to it." Logan's daughter explained blandly.

"Since when did you know that?" The water controlling girl at the door asked.

"How do you guys think he gets out of his crib without using his powers at times?" Laura asked rhetorically, making everyone blink.

"... Huh. That actually explains it." Sam nodded after a moment.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was doing his best to clean his coffin off, when he was suddenly startled by none other than Puck appearing right in front of him, the white haired and pointy eared trickster holding Damian in his arms as he stood on the coffin.

"Whoo! You would not _believe _what we've been through today!" Puck said as he adjusted his hold on the boy. "And you, you little blueberry, need to lose some weight, you're becoming quite heavy." He added as he handed Damian to his father as he got up.

"Hey, Puck. No real problems as usual, I assume?" The pseudo vampire asked as he took his son into his arms.

"Luckily. Though I must say Mr. Shirakumo, your son has got a very sharp mind for someone his age, and that's not even touching on how good his memory is! I honestly would have mistaken him for an elephant if he weren't already a baby." The fairy told him.

"Trust me, I've noticed. I can't even begin to count the number of times he's gotten out of his crib without his powers. Seriously, he actually remembers how the lock works. It's honestly amazing." Gavin nodded.

"That reminds me. Damian, why don't we show your father your new magical power?" Puck said to the baby. Damian giggled as he grabbed his favorite rattle and started shaking it. "Now, sir, give the boy a nice hard knock on the head." He told the pseudo vampire, who immediately looked hesitant.

"Are you sure that's a good idea…?" He asked warily. Puck nodded reassuringly and Gavin sighed before he gave Damian a good knock on the head, only for the baby to giggle as he shook his rattle at his father and the force of his own action was sent back at him with double the impact, knocking him over. As soon as Gavin recovered from his daze, he looked at his son in shock.

"What was that?!" He asked with wide eyes.

"_That_ would be Damian's unique magical power. As long as he has an object in his hand, he can send any attack towards him back at the user with double the impact." Puck explained. Gavin looked at his son with amazement and pride in his eyes. He truly had an amazing son.

"I feel so proud right now." He said with a smile.

"And you should be. Now if you excuse, I have to get back to my other star pupil. Those two have really rubbed off on each other. Ta ta for now!" Puck smiled as he disappeared, leaving Gavin behind with his son.

(Later)

All the kids were now following Damian as the little guy led them to where the booze was stashed, and what was he getting in return for all this? Apparently some tasty snacks and his first time trying beer, pretzels and German sausages in one sitting. He may be a baby but he was smart enough to know that if free food was your reward? You take the job.

"Oh man, this is gonna be awesome." Bobby whispered with a grin. Oktoberfest always sounded fun to him, but he was always told that he was too young for it and to wait until he was older. He just couldn't wait.

"I still think giving Damian beer is the worst idea ever. If Gavin and Rogue find out we gave him booze, they'll kill us." Jubilee whispered in concern.

"We'd just give him a sip, how bad can it be?" Ray questioned as Damian suddenly stopped crawling and plopped down in front of the food storage locker that Xanatos Enterprises installed, and had stocked courtesy of their friend Broadway.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Someone asked, causing them to nearly jump out of their skins as they turned around and saw Peter Parker behind them.

"Peter! Don't scare us like that!" Laura hissed.

"Sorry, but what's going on?" He apologized before repeating himself.

"We're gonna sneak us a few drinks, care to join?" Roberto asked.

"Um…. Yeah, you know what? No thanks. I don't like having hangovers." Peter replied awkwardly. That was before he saw Damian sitting in front of the door. "Uh, what's a baby doing here?" He asked.

"Oh, he's the one that led us here." Laura replied with a shrug. "So, you still want out of this?" She asked.

"Yeah… Let me know how it goes." He nodded as he walked away slowly. The kids then started to attempt getting in, while Damian just watched while chewing on his teething ring.

(About five minutes later)

Chelsea was headed towards the storage locker to make sure no one was in it, when she saw a very sleepy Damian rubbing his eyes as he yawned, the other kids being nowhere in sight.

"What the-?" She muttered as she picked the little tyke up. "What are you doing all the way out here?" She asked him.

"Boo boo ptttt… *yawn*." He babbled before he yawned and nuzzled his head into her chest. Chelsea raised an eyebrow before she walked to Gavin's room to put him in his crib.

"Alright kiddo, nap time." She said as she tucked him in. As the boy gripped her finger with his little hand while he slowly fell asleep, the blonde smiled down at him. "Ya know, with a kid like you around for practice, maybe having a few kids won't be so bad after all." She said as she put his favorite stuffed tiger Hobbes next to him while he snuggled it and left.

Though as soon as she was away from the locker, Laura and the others came pouring out of it, most of them shivering like mad from the cold of said storage area.

"Th-th-th-th-th-th-this b-b-b-b-b-bet-tter be w-w-worth it." Sam said as he shivered. The only ones among them that remained unaffected were Bobby, Roberto, Amara, Pele and Rahne for obvious reasons.

"Heh heh, trust me, it will be." The ice man smirked.

(Later that night)

Everyone was finally able to settle in for the first party of the week and right now, almost everyone was drinking, except Bast and Ororo, who were sticking to just a couple of flavored sparkling waters.

Gavin, meanwhile, was having a light mixed drink of bourbon and coke while sharing a clown sundae, sausages and a few soft pretzels with Damian. The blue skinned baby was happily eating the food given to him by Rogue and his father.

"Alright Damian, here it comes, open wide sugah." Rogue cooed as she held up a spoonful of vanilla ice cream from the sundae. The blue skinned tyke did as his mom instructed and opened his mouth for the frozen treat. The southern belle gently placed the scoop in Damian's mouth, and he immediately swallowed it before letting out a happy giggle and started babbling, wanting more.

Chelsea was busy drinking with Logan and the Sever siblings while Romano and Marcus had a drinking and pretzel eating contest. When she saw Damian being fed pieces of pretzel and the other two treats, she couldn't help but look down at the growing embryo inside her.

'_What Gavin and Rogue have is going to be me and Logan in a few months. Ugh, I can't wait.'_ She thought, feeling a sliver of anticipation enter her mind. She then leaned on Logan as she continued to drink. "Hey Logan… Do you think I'd actually make a good mom?" She asked him.

"What kind of question is that? Of course you will." Logan replied, feeling a little incredulous at the question. "What in the world is making you think otherwise?" He asked.

"My parents." She told him. "I'm just… Scared that I might end up being like them without even realizing it, like I think I'm doing something completely different than what they did, but in reality I'm just copying them. I'm really worried that might happen to any of our kids, not just this one."

She then felt not just Logan's hand on her shoulder, she felt Johan's and Katerina's as well. She looked and saw them giving her comforting smiles.

"You don't have to worry. You've got us to help you along if you end up struggling." The green eyed cyborg said assuringly.

"Yeah. You've got nothing to worry about. We got your back." Katerina nodded.

"You heard them, Chels. We're right here if you need us." Logan told her as he pulled her close.

The blonde sighed as she leaned on his shoulder. "Thanks guys." She said before she slowly started to bury her face into Logan's shoulder and slowly started to cry.

"Mood swing." Logan and Johan sighed, this kind of behavior had been happening a little earlier than most women with her because of her higher hormone levels.

With Bast and Ororo, they were having small talk as they enjoyed their sparkling drinks.

"Do you think anyone is going to accept you as a nurse as things are now?" The weather witch asked.

"At normal clinics? Doubtful, but luckily I'm pretty sure Dr. Marks is more than willing to let me work for him, given his current occupation. Though I do have a feeling that most places will have much of a choice given how no nonsense these mandates are gonna be in a couple weeks." The cat woman shrugged, sipping her drink.

"And when you consider who's going to be in charge of enforcing them?" Ororo chuckled as she glanced at the Sever siblings and Gavin. "I think we're in safe hands." She added with a smile. Bast followed her gaze and smirked.

"That we are." She nodded, though her gaze did linger on Johan.

"Still though, I have a feeling that things won't improve overnight as intended, if past events with such things are anything to go by." The woman sighed, Bast nodding in agreement before they continued drinking.

"Uh… Guys? I'm noticing that we're missing a few containers of Miller Lite and a few other beers." Scott said as he was looking for the rest of stuff.

"What? How'd that happen?" Gavin asked as he scratched his head in confusion. Rogue, meanwhile, paused in what she was doing before she groaned and facepalmed. There was only one thing she could come up with right now that explained the missing booze.

"Ah think Ah know…" She spoke up.

Elsewhere in a giant igloo created by Bobby in the middle of the woods, everyone was literally chilling in it on furniture made of ice and drinking. How much? They were drinking like it was the end of the world, they were like dogs without horses they were running wild. They were all drinking like it was the civil war and the doctor was coming to saw their legs off… So the party was going great.

"Man, this is awesome. And they tried to keep this away from us? What's wrong with them?" Sam asked after chugging a can of Miller and crashing into the wall, feeling a little incredulous at the fact the older members of the Institute tried to keep them away from the booze.

"I told ya this was a good idea." Bobby said before he drunkenly tripped and froze Roxy's tail by mistake.

"Hey, watch it!" She snapped.

"Wheee!" Pele and Kai cheered as they started spraying lava and water all over the place.

"Hey, careful! You'll trash the igloo!" Ray exclaimed in slight alarm.

Off to the side, Rahne was of course not drinking because of her religious background, and was of course the first to notice that Laura was also not drunk because of her healing factor despite drinking six six packs. Both girls groaned at the antics of the rest of the kids as Jamie started arm wrestling with Peter, Amara was collapsed on the ground and Roberto was standing in a corner with a solo cup in hand.

That was when they noticed the police drive up to the igloo. "Hey guys, the police are here!" Rahne called, only for something outrageous to happen as an officer came in.

"FUCK DA POLICE!" Roberto started yelling… And everyone else started joining in. A sea of toddlers yelling fuck the police in his face. The officer that came in just facepalmed.

"What even is this…?" He muttered to himself. That was when he noticed the booze. "... Now everything suddenly makes sense." He muttered again. He then reached for his radio. "Get the paddy wagon!" He said.

That's when Ray noticed this. He then grabbed a forty, raised it and then shattered it on the ground and yelled. "SCATTER!" then everyone ran in different directions, like in Ratatouille when the rats saw the humans.

"Oh for the love of- Everyone, chase 'em down!" The one officer ordered.

Back at the Institute, the people who were actually of age were far from pleased with what they just noticed.

"How did they even know where to look? The only person who might've known was…" Gavin said before he looked at Damian in his booster seat eating another soft pretzel and sucking the salt and cheese sauce off his thumb, said sauce all over his face. "... Nevermind." He sighed.

"Those kids are in so much trouble for this one." Logan growled lightly to avoid scaring Damian.

"Let's focus on finding them for now. We can worry about punishing them afterwards." The eldritch woman of the group inputted.

"No need, look." Marcus said as he pointed out the window and saw all the kids attempting to climb the fence placed around the Institute's temporary replacement structure.

"Please tell me they didn't piss off the police…" Johan groaned... Only for several cruisers to drive past the driveway luckily not noticing where the kids went. "... Dammit." He facepalmed with a groan.

"Was that… A paddy wagon?" Bast asked in disbelief.

"Laura is _so _grounded after we deal with this…!" Chelsea growled angrily.

"I must admit though, using an escape artist like Damian to get into the storage unit was a fair stroke of genius on their part." Xavier admitted.

"If a bit stupid." Devin nodded.

"Come on, let's go berate them for being stupid." Scott said casually as he walked out.

'_How does he say that so casually?' _Everyone thought. As they walked outside, they soon found that all of the other kids were blacked out drunk, and clearly not very conscious if at all. The only ones that were sober looked to be Rahne and Laura.

"Care to do some explaining girls?" Chelsea asked with folded arms, which again, made it hard for her to be taken seriously since she was so clearly pregnant. It was just too hilarious.

"In our defense, we tried to tell them not to do it." The female Wolverine told her stepmom.

"But they wouldn't bloody listen." Rahne added in an irritated tone, clueing the grownups in that she was against the idea.

"And you went with them, because…?" Jean asked with a raised eyebrow.

"To make sure they didn't do anything stupid, or in this case _try_ to." The green eyed girl said.

"Yeah, look at how that turned out." Gavin commented as he looked at the passed out students.

"We told them it was a bad idea." The two shrugged.

"At least you did. I think a hangover will suffice as punishment, right?" Devin mused.

"Yeah, I think that'll do. Come on, let's get these loons into bed." Lance commented as he walked over to Bobby and picked him up.

"Way ahead of you, I need to drop off Peter at his aunt's house anyway. Poor Miss May has enough stuff to worry about as it is." Laura yawned as she hoisted said web slinger over her shoulder.

"Take care out there. I'll be sure to send word to the police and explain the situation as best I can." Xavier told her.

"Got it." The girl nodded before walking off to get Peter home.

"Well, I know one thing for certain." Johan started.

"What's that?" Chelsea asked with a raised eyebrow.

"This holiday is gonna be a one time thing here." He finished. His statement was met with a chorus of agreements from everyone else and a disappointed groan from Chelsea. "How about instead, we do it at my place next year?" He suggested. This got another chorus of agreements.

"And next time, we put someone in charge of _actually _watching the kids." Hank added.

"Agreed." Everyone nodded. That was how the first Oktoberfest at the Institute went, now that left only one thing: the day after.

(The next day)

"Oh, that was the worst decision I ever made…!" Bobby groaned in pain as he held his head along with the other kids who got wasted. The first thing they had when they woke up was a hangover, and it was making them regret their decision from last night.

"Not listening to Laura was the worst mistake of my life…" Sam moaned in pain.

"I can still taste the vomit…" Jamie muttered as he clutched his stomach, causing both Kai and Pele to nearly taste their breakfast a second time.

"Did I really yell 'Fuck da police' in front of the police?" Roberto asked.

"Yep, and the other's minus me and Laura joined in, too." Rahne replied dully.

"Ay caramba!" The living sunspot groaned.

"Uh guys… You're probably not gonna believe this but, this morning I woke up in a hotel with Boom Boom." Ray mentioned. Everyone looked at him and blinked.

"... Why?" Was all Pele could ask.

"Was she even at the party? I can't remember." Jubilee asked.

"Yeah, I invited her." Amara nodded.

"... Did I also mention that we were in our underwear when we woke up?" The electro user asked hesitantly. Everyone's jaws collectively dropped at that.

"Dude, what the heck?!" Sam exclaimed with wide eyes.

"I… I have no idea." He replied before sighing in defeat.

"Let's just agree that we're never going to speak of what was said here to anyone. Right?" The ice mutant proposed.

"Right." They all nodded, but Ray seemed like he was thinking of just what he was going to say to the literal blonde bombshell the next time he saw her…

**Dragon Emperor0: So apparently Ray and Tabitha slept together, and that look on everyone's faces as the thought that only black out drunks, and Steve Erchle can have: 'Did he do that?' Was priceless.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yep. Everyone got a small piece of Germany this chapter. Hard to believe those cops just went by the kids, though.**

**Dragon Emperor0: No kidding, also can we just take a moment to appreciate just how adorable Damian was this chapter? The mental image of everything he was doing still makes me happy.**

**ThermalsniperN7: In the words of a certain Russian I know of: "Is nice." Anyway, see you guys next time.**


	55. Chapter 55

**Chapter 55: Mainstream **

Three weeks following the Oktoberfest celebration, everyone was currently asleep in their beds and, unknown to them, three people had snuck onto the property. Kitty had woken up to get some food in her currently empty stomach when Kurt surprised her by teleporting onto the table in front of her.

"I knew it! You drink straight from it." He said as he snatched the milk carton from her.

"I was gonna finish the whole thing." She said in a very unconvincing tone. Their argument was interrupted, however, when the remaining proximity alarms went off, indicating that there were intruders on the grounds… Which was promptly answered by poor Damian crying as his sleep was so rudely interrupted.

"Zey made Damian cry. Zey made me angry!" Kurt growled, angry that his little brother had to get woken up at this hour.

"You and me both!" Kitty growled just as angrily in agreement.

"Alright, who made my son cry?!" Came Gavin's angry question. The monitors then showed three people with spray paint cans near the wreckage of the old Institute. "Okay now I'm even more pissed off." He said as he pulled out his phone. "Johan? Get the paddy wagon, we've got some people breaking the mandate's laws, right after the last one got passed too."

"_For the love of- *Sigh* On my way." _The older Sever sibling replied, not sounding too pleased about his sleep being disturbed.

The three then ran out to cut the intruders off, and Gavin was able to see that they were wearing Bayville High letterman jackets with his night vision. They had spray painted racial slurs, discriminatory remarks and disrespectful drawings of the students all over the last remaining wall of the Institute that was left standing after the explosion.

"Alright, jackasses! You woke my son up and made him cry, so I'm just gonna go on a whim and say that you no longer wish to have teeth!" The pseudo vampire barked, getting their attention as he started cracking his knuckles.

"Fuck off you freak show! No one wants you or your stupid kid here, so why don't you go jump off a bridge and take him with ya?" One with a swamp thing mask on retorted. Gavin, Kurt and Kitty cracked their knuckles in response.

"You know what to do, guys!" Gavin growled. The tree then used their powers to slip behind the kids and tackled them all to the ground and ripped off their masks. "You people are just as racist as the Jim Crow supporters from back in the day, you all make me sick." He snarled, snapping his fangs.

The guys below them all tried to get free, right as the police drove up right behind Johan in his car. "Alright, let's see the… Damage." Johan said before he saw the graffiti. "... You've gotta be fucking kidding me." He facepalmed before glaring down at those responsible. "You kids do realize that discrimination based vandalism and property damage against mutants has just been made a fellony, right?" He asked them.

"So what?! They're all freaks and they should be killed!" One of them exclaimed stupidly. Johan sent the speaker a withering glare before he addressed the officers.

"Load these racist degenerates up!" He barked. The officers did so and the three kids were led into the cruisers in handcuffs. Johan then turned to Gavin. "You and Devin remember your jobs, right?"

"Yep, weed out all the discriminatory teachers and students via video and audio evidence." The boy nodded.

"Good." The man nodded back. "Now, anyone else wanting breakfast right now?" He asked as the sun slowly started to rise.

"Oh hells yes." Gavin replied as his stomach grumbled.

(Later)

As everyone was eating breakfast, Xavier had just finished telling them that Bayville High was going to be letting them go back to school today but tonight there would be a vote on whether or not there would be a permanent mutant ban. Clearly the PTA didn't care about the fact that the mandates were passed.

"I'll tell the Sever siblings about the possibility of having to put the PTA in their places." Gavin spoke up.

"Man. Even with the mandates being passed, people are still trying to shaft us." Evan commented in a bitter tone.

"They won't have much choice in the matter once the crack down starts, but I think that we should try and show them that we're still people first so that they can start learning to see us as equals out of respect instead of being forced to by law." Xavier told them.

"Yeah. If we can do that, then it'll make things a whole lot easier." Devin mused.

"And the people who refuse to learn, get weeded out." Gavin added with a clench of his fist.

"Ah just hope they learn that it'll be a bad idea to try their luck." Rogue sighed.

(Later)

The X-Men were all heading towards the school and as they started to enter, Duncan stopped Jean, starting to tell her that he was willing to overlook her 'problem' and put said problem to good use. This infuriated the redheaded telepath.

"You insufferable lughead! We are so through!" She told him, officially ending their 'relationship' before she stormed away with Scott following her.

"Looks like Scott has a clear shot at Jean now." Lance noted without any sense of awareness to who was listening, causing Rogue to let out a depressed sigh.

"Yeah, looks like it." She mumbled. Gavin noticed her reaction and frowned before quickly smacking Lance in the back of the head for his idiocy.

"Come on Rogue, let's get out of here." He told her as they walked away. Meanwhile, Laura was getting her stuff for class, when she accidentally bumped into someone. Said person was a girl who looked to be Mexican with black hair, which was in a ponytail and blue eyes, she had mocha colored skin and also was wearing a pair of white jeans with a light green top.

"Uh, sorry about that." Laura said awkwardly as she helped the girl pick up her books that she dropped.

"Don't worry. Is this your first day here?" The girl asked.

"Unfortunately, it is." The daughter of Wolverine replied with a sigh.

"Me too, I just moved here from Westminster." The girl nodded. "Hey, do you go to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters?" She asked suddenly, noticing the X-men pin on Laura's black backpack.

"... Will you hate me if I say yes?" The green eyed girl asked reluctantly.

"Oh heavens no. I have a friend who goes there. Does the name Gavin Shirakumo sound familiar at all to you?" The Mexican girl asked, causing Laura to look at her with wide eyes.

"Yeah, he's practically been like a brother to me." She nodded.

"Really?" The girl asked as Laura nodded. "Wow. Well I'm Ronni Ann Di Casa. Me and Gavin went to the Westminster Fencing Academy before he moved here."

"Really? Wow." The green eyed girl said as they started walking to class.

"I like your outfit." Ronni Ann said as she looked at what Laura was wearing. The girl was wearing a pair of yellow leggings with blue stripes, blue boots with yellow trim, a blue Lycra skirt, a yellow leather jacket Chelsea gave her with a blue X on the back, and a yellow shirt with a blue X on it. Lastly she had on a pair of blue glove/gauntlets that exposed most of her hand and looped around her middle finger, they also had two slots for her claws near her knuckles. Which showed that her nails were painted in both gold and blue.

"Oh! Thanks. I was a little standoffish about the nail polish, though." She replied as she looked at her nails.

"I think it suits you." The girl told her.

"So… How exactly do you feel about Mutants?" Laura asked nervously, not entirely sure if Ronni Ann actually liked her and was just being nice to her because she was close with Gavin.

"Honestly, I'm a little envious. The fact that people have powers others can only dream of? Makes me wish I had one myself." Ronni replied. "But other than that, I think they're awesome." She added.

"Really? Most people I've come across think we're freaks." She said as she dodged a spitball being shot at her by a student. "..: Case in point." She grumbled.

"I can tell." Gavin's old friend replied in irritation. "So, tell me, has Gavin started dating anyone? I've always thought of him like a brother too and I'm always worried that he may end up falling for the wrong girl."

"No, but he did end up having a kid." Laura told her. Her words caused the fencing girl to freeze.

"... What?" She responded dangerously, already coming up with plans for the one who used Gavin in such a way.

"Oh don't worry, the result was an absolutely darling little baby, look." The girl told her as she showed Ronni a picture of her and Damian.

"Oh my goodness, he's an adorable little blueberry!" Ronni squealed quietly in delight as she looked at the picture.

"Yep, and he's a real troublemaker too." Laura said as they walked to class.

(Elsewhere)

Scott was currently being cornered by Duncan and his cronies, and had his shades taken away by the blonde, but luckily for him, Lance was there for backup.

"Don't worry Scotty, I'll take it from here." He told his rival turned friend as he swatted the shades from Duncan and tossed them back to Scott.

"Oh, you think you're a hotshot, Alvers? You think you can take me?" The jock taunted.

"Heh, I've taken down guys way tougher than you." The boy smirked. He was then joined by Evan, Rogue, Kitty and Devin.

"Damn straight." They agreed.

Duncan looked at them before he sighed and walked away with his cronies. "This isn't over Muties." He yelled back.

As they left, Devin smirked as he held up a camera he had hidden the whole time. "Yeah, cuz you guys need to keep digging your own graves." He smirked.

"Heh. The look on his face when his life falls apart in the span of a few moments is gonna be priceless." Evan chuckled.

"Good riddance." Kitty nodded as she kissed Lance on the cheek. "You did good Lance, I'm proud of you." She told him.

"T-thanks." He replied with a stutter and a blush.

(Elsewhere)

At the trophy case, Jean was currently being absolutely insulted by Principal Kelly, who said that because of Jean being a mutant it made her a cheat and a menace. Though little did the racist idiot realize that Gavin was recording him the entire time as he stood behind the man, recorder behind his back.

'_That's right, dumbass. Keep digging your grave.'_ Gavin thought as Kelly walked off. He then followed the man and waved at Duncan as he walked into his office and started recording their conversation. After a few minutes he made sure to record the last part.

"And when you and the Brotherhood deal with Mr. Summers, make sure you _deal _with him, _permanently_." The man told Duncan.

"You got it." The idiotic jock replied.

The pseudo vampire's eyes widened as he backed away. "... I gotta warn the others!" He said as he ran away back to his class with the others. He immediately whipped his phone out and dialed Johan's number. "Johan, we have a serious life and death problem!" He said to his friend.

(Later that night)

Later that night in the school auditorium, everyone was waiting for the PTA meeting to start for the Mutant ban vote. Though as soon as Kelly called Jean to the podium and the redhead spent several minutes giving a truly moving speech about how anyone's child could be a mutant. Everyone heard Gavin's voice at the other side of the closed double doors.

"Whaddya mean you forgot the song? Fine you know what, just take my player and hit random. No just-just hit random!" He said before he and Johan kicked open the door with Katerina close behind. That's when Bitch by Meredith Brooks started playing as the pseudo vampire walked in dressed in his usual costume, while everyone looked at them oddly.

"Turn it off, turn it off." He said as Johan made the song stop. "It didn't work. It did not work." He added with a sigh as he took his shades off.

"I tried to warn you." Katerina shrugged.

"Sorry for the interruption everyone but we were sent here by our superiors at SHIELD to address this school's clear disregard for the Mutant Equal Rights Act." Johan said to the crowd before glaring at Kelly. "As well as a suspected plot to commit murder against a mutant student." He added. His words caused whispers of concern to erupt in the crowd.

"You have no business being here! Leave now!" Kelly yelled, right as a car was sent flying across the parking lot outside.

"I don't think we'll be leaving just yet." Johan growled with narrowed eyes. The X-Men quickly ran outside and pretty soon they all saw it, Duncan had joined forces with the Brotherhood.

Kurt let out a sigh as he turned off his image inducer. "Guess vere's no sense in hiding now, people vill know I'm the fuzzy one by seeing my powers anyvay." With that, he went and engaged Toad.

Everyone started trying to either avoid or help keep people out of harm's way while not using their powers, something Xavier quickly pointed out to Kelly.

"Do you see now, Principal? My students are showing that they are capable of showing restraint and not using their powers." He told the man as Gavin caught a punch that Blob tried to throw at one of his classmates, Terran and Ronni Ann. "Rather they use their own natural skill."

"Hey Ronni Ann, when'd you get here?" Gavin asked his old fencing partner casually as he forced Blob's fist down with little effort.

"Just today. One of my parents got a job here, so we ended up moving." The girl replied with a shrug.

"Really? Huh." The boy said as he pushed the mountain of lard back. "So, you believe me now about being a vampire or what?"

"Yep." Ronni Ann replied with a nod. "I also met Laura today. I wanna nuzzle your son, now." She added, mentally squealing at the thought.

"I'll be sure to let you meet him." Gavin told her as he pulled out his guns and pointed them at Blob. "Get ready to drop, Blobby." He grinned as he started firing.

Scott was currently trying to direct the X-Men in using their powers to keep the people safe as Kitty saved a few by turning them intangible, Evan creating a protective wall of spikes, Kurt on teleportation duty, and even Lance was chipping in by making the ground roll and get everyone out of the way of several flying cars.

But just as things were going their way, Duncan slowly pulled something out of his letterman jacket. It was a nine millimeter Beretta pistol, as he took it out he took aim at both Scott and Jean with glee on his face.

"Two Mutants with one bullet. So long, Summers. Sayonara bitch." He said as he pulled the trigger. Chelsea, who had been trying to stay clear of everything for obvious reasons, heard the gunshot and saw the bullet heading straight for both Scott and Jean.

"SCOTT, JEAN, LOOK OUT!" She yelled. Scott turned and quickly pushed Jean out of the way, and was then hit in the chest with the bullet, in the right side of his chest just barely past his right lung. Scott let out a pained scream that caught the attention of the others.

"SCOTT!" Jean yelled in alarm as she rushed to his side. Rogue also ran to his side as well, taking his left hand while Jean took his right and Lance started applying pressure to the wound.

"Heh. One down, one to-" He started before Johan tackled him to the ground and knocked the gun out of his hands. The jock tried to get up, but the older man punched him in the face before he grabbed his hands and put cuffs on them.

"You're officially under arrest for attempted murder, you damn degenerate!" He growled. He then hoisted the fool to his feet and dragged him to a police cruiser that had just arrived.

"Hey you can't take him, he's our star player!" A boy snapped.

"Yeah, who cares if he shot Summers? He's a mutant, he isn't worth anything!" Terran added.

"Sis, get these idiots out of my sight! Scare 'em if you have to!" Johan barked at his sister. Katerina did so and even used her powers to scare some of them off.

Everyone else rushed over to Scott as the Paramedics got there, and the entire time, both Rogue and Jean never left his side.

"Oh Scott… please be okay." Jean pleaded as the ambulance drove them away.

"Ah'm so sorry Scott… Ah'm sorry, Ah should have helped you." Rogue cried as she and Jean tried to comfort each other.

(Elsewhere)

Edward Kelly cursed as he stormed into his office and flipped his desk over as he yelled in frustration. Ruined, it was all ruined! His plan to make the school ban Mutants from schools, his plan to get rid of the X-Men, his plan to use the momentum of the movement to become a member of congress to put all Mutants in cages and get rid of them. It was all _ruined_!

Suddenly, his door was kicked in and the Sever siblings walked in with steel looks on their faces.

"Edward Kelly, you're under arrest for orchestrating a plot to commit murder against a mutant out of discriminatory hate. Hands in the air." The older sibling ordered.

"That's a lofty accusation. Where's your proof, Mutant lover?" He snapped. Johan responded by whipping out a tape recorder Gavin gave him and pressed the play button. Kelly's conversation with Duncan from earlier in the day was played and it caused the principal to go pale.

"Do I really need to say anything?" The SHIELD agent asked rhetorically.

"Y-y-you can't do this to me! Mutants have no place in my school!" He yelled defiantly.

"Too bad for you. It's either come peacefully or things get violent." Katerina warned.

"And should you choose to resist, I'd be happy to let you leave here with a few broken bones." Johan told him, cracking his knuckles.

"I refuse to let you do this to me!" The man yelled in rage and, stupidly, charged at them. The siblings promptly clotheslined him to the floor before they pulled his hands behind his backs and cuffed him.

"No racism allowed, fuckstick. Let's go." Johan said gruffly as his sister hoisted him up and then proceeded to lead him to their cruiser.

Looks like a new principal was needed… again.

(Later)

The next day Scott was in recovery after being in intensive care for over ten hours. Luckily for him though, Dr. Sampson Marks had been in town to help Bast with applying to SHIELD and was able to operate on him. And true to his reputation, the man managed to save Scott in the nick of time.

"I cannot thank you enough, Dr. Marks. I am truly in your debt, if something were to happen to Scott… I would have never forgiven myself." Xavier said to the man as they shook hands.

"My pleasure, Charles. I just hope the other hospitals across the nation will learn to treat their mutant patients with the care they deserve." The man sighed. He then turned to Chelsea and smiled as he surprised her with a hug. "I'm so proud of you, Chelsea. I'm sure you will be a wonderful mother one day." He told her as he looked his daughter over before turning to Logan and Laura. "Take care of her for me, alright? I don't want to lose her again." He told them.

"Don't worry. We'll take care of her." Logan nodded.

"If she'll let us." Laura joked with a mirthful smirk, causing them to laugh.

With Scott, he had woken up about an hour ago from the surgery after being asleep for five hours and the first thing he was met with was the pain of his gunshot wound and the caring and relieved smiles of Jean and Rogue.

"How long was I out?" He asked with slight pain.

"Fifteen hours." Jean told him.

"We were all worried sick about you the whole time." Rogue added as she gripped his hand tightly, as did Jean.

"Heh, thanks girls… Oh, hey, Rogue?" The shaded boy asked the southern belle.

"Yeah?" She responded.

"I know we're not as-Urg-close as you and Gavin are, but, I just wanted you to know that… I'm really glad that you decided to join us back then." He told her sincerely.

"Ah'm glad Ah joined back then, too." She replied with a sincere smile as she gave his hand a squeeze. Off to the side, Gavin let out a low growl and hiss before he crushed a can in his hand and stormed off while throwing it in the trash.

"Well, all this aside, I do have some good news." Johan told everyone who was present.

"What's up?" The red headed telepath asked.

"Everyone at Bayville high voted to let Mutants continue coming to school. It seems that after you guys saved everyone and they saw just how poorly people were acting, it made them start to change their tone." He told them.

"Hopefully that can happen with everyone else." Katerina noted.

"Let's hope. What happened to Duncan?" Evan asked.

"He's sitting in a jail cell. Same with Kelly since he orchestrated the whole thing. Bayville High's gonna need a new principal." The older Sever sibling replied.

"A non-racist one, I hope?" Scott asked.

"Oh yeah. Big time." The eldritch woman nodded.

"In fact, Director Fury hand picked a candidate straight from SHIELD who will do everything he can to enforce the Mutant Equal Rights Act." Johan told them. "He's a guy I know pretty well. His name is Phil Coulson."

"Sounds like the guy we need in charge." Jean commented.

"He is. And when he's in charge, it'll make cracking down on the racism so much easier." The younger Sever sibling nodded.

"Good." Chelsea nodded.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was outside of the hospital and was walking down an alley before he stopped right in the middle of it and let out an angered yell as he punched a wall, causing it to crack and form a hole.

"Dammit! Why can't she see it?!" He asked no one in particular in frustration. "Why can't she see that I want her to look at _me _the way she looks at him?" He said as he fell to his knees and started slamming his head and fist against the wall. "Why?... Why can't you see it, Rogue?" He whispered as tears started to run down his face. "Why can't you see that I love you?" He said before he started to cry again.

Cracks have started to form in his heart, so how much longer until he breaks?

**Dragon Emperor0: Well, things certainly took a few unexpected turns this chapter, didn't they?**

**ThermalsniperN7: That they have. And now Duncan and Kelly are in jail for their stupidity. On top of that, Gavin's exterior is cracking.**

**Dragon Emperor0: I guess bottling all his feelings for Rogue for so long to help her try and win Scott over (although the epitome of selflessness and great show of how much he loves her- as the saying goes: if you love something, set it free-) came back to bite him in the end as Scott completely ignores Rogue's romantic feelings and continues to friend zone her. And to add insult to injury, Rogue has no idea he loves her.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Which means when it all breaks free, it's gonna be really ugly. Let's hope it all works out, somehow.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. On the bright side though, looks like Laura made a new friend. Sure it'll take her a while to adjust to school life with humans since she's so used to the easy to adapt to the environment of the Institute, but I think Ronni Ann may be able to help her.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. She really lucked out there when they met. Having one of Gavin's old friends around should serve as a confidence booster for Laura.**

**Dragon Emperor0: No kidding. Anyway guys, see you guys next time! And tell us what you thought of Laura's new design.**


	56. Chapter 56

**Chapter 56: Stuff of Villains **

After Scott had gotten shot and both the principal and several students were sent to jail, pretty much everyone started to change their tunes towards the mutants, teacher, students or otherwise… Well, most of them. Those who still refused to listen just gave them a hard time away from the prying eyes of the new principal: Agent Phil Coulson.

After he had taken his place as the new principal, Phil had taken it upon himself to curb the racism drastically. He new there were those who were too dumb to listen to reason, and he was trying to do what he could to weed them out however he could. The Shirakumo twins along with various others gave him their aid should he need it.

All in all, the school had become a stable place. However, one of his informants, Gavin Shirakumo, had recently become very erratic, ill tempered and would constantly get angry at every little thing. It was honestly starting to become a problem.

Right now, he had the pseudo vampire in his office, as well as Scott. The incident in question that just occurred was Gavin decking the shaded teen in the face in front of several other people.

"Gavin, this behavior you've been displaying is becoming a problem. If you can at the very least tell us what's causing it, we may be able to help." The SHIELD agent/principal told him.

"You wouldn't understand…. None of you would." The boy sighed before growling the last part. Scott continued to hold an ice pack to his jaw and looked at him.

"You don't know that." Scott told him. Gavin let out a shaky sigh.

"... Fine. There's this… Girl I really like. She's pining for this dense _asshole _who won't give her a second look because he's pining for this other girl I know and I've been helping the girl I like get with him… Only for him to _repeatedly _and blatantly ignore or doesn't take the damn hint. And she's still hung up on him, and it just makes me so… _ANGRY_!" He snapped before slamming his fist on the arm of the chair he was in.

"And… This is causing you to lash out?" Scott asked as he felt his jaw throb slightly, making him wince.

"What was your first clue, Sherlock?" Gavin hissed.

"Does this girl have a name?" Coulson asked.

"Yeah, it's Anna, Anna Marie." The boy told him.

"Oh… Well, I hope she puts two and two together soon. For your sake, and her own." Phil nodded slowly.

"Yeah, me too." Scott nodded, causing Gavin to give him a sideways glare that probably would have killed Medusa if she were there.

'_This __**prick**_**!**' He thought as he sighed and got up. "I'm gonna go to class. See you guys later." He told them as he left.

(Elsewhere)

Laura was currently trying to get her stuff for class while talking to Romni Ann, when someone said something from behind the door of the top locker.

"I was wondering when I'd find you." A familiar voice said, causing a startled Laura to close the door, revealing it to be Peter.

"Peter!" The girl said in surprise before hugging him tightly.

"Surprise, Laura." He commented with a grin as he hugged her back.

"Who's this, your boyfriend?" Ronni Ann joked with a smirk.

"W-wha-?! No! It's not l-like that!" The mini Wolverine stammered with a blush, which was mirrored by her web slinging friend.

"It's uh… Kind of a long story." Peter said nervously as the two thought back to when they first met.

(Flashback)

Peter was standing at the edge of the Brooklyn bridge, the same spot of one of his greatest failures: the day he wasn't able to save the girl he loved, Gwen Stacy. It had pretty much been a rough year for him. He had been rejected by the girl he had originally started dating, Mary Jane Watson for reasons he still wasn't sure about, only for her to start dating his best friend Harry Osborn a few weeks later. And then after moving on and dating Gwen for four months, she died from whiplash when he tried to save her from falling off this very bridge after she was thrown by his nemesis, Green Goblin.

Now he was standing there and looking down at the water after receiving another set of bad news: his Aunt May had cancer, and there wasn't anything he could do to help her. His reflection looked back up at him, showing that he was only fourteen, maybe fifteen, with brown hair and brown eyes, he also had an uncanny resemblance to the child actor, Tom Holland.

Peter started to feel the tears well as he started to cry, he just felt so helpless, and alone, and worthless, he felt lost, and in a set of mind that was not his own, he was about to end it all when...

"NO!" A female voice screamed before he was suddenly dragged away from the edge. The boy turned to whoever dragged him away and saw it was the girl he saw before, Laura, and she had just slung him away from the edge of the bridge like a rag doll.

"What are you doing?!" Peter snapped at her.

"What am _I _doing? What are _YOU _doing?! What could possibly possess you to commit suicide that I don't know?!" The green eyed girl growled furiously.

"I'm sick and tired of the people I care about always getting hurt, sick or killed, I'm tired of not being able to protect them, being the reason they get hurt! They're better off if I'm not-" he started to yell back before…

***SMACK!***

He was interrupted by a slap to the face courtesy of the daughter of the Wolverine in front of him. He touched his stinging cheek as Laura glared at him angrily.

"Who the hell told you that you're the reason everyone close to you is getting hurt?! NO ONE! None of that was your fault, and it never will be! Times have been rough, I know, but none of it is a cause for fucking suicide!" She ranted.

"Sometimes bad things just _happen, _Spider-Man, you can't just go internalizing every little misfortune or finding a reason for every slight. Because at the end of the day, things just happen. Not everything is always your fault, trust me, I know." She added, which caused the boy to look at her in shock, how did _she _know his secret identity?!

"H-how did you-? He tried to ask before Laura pointed at her nose.

"Enhanced sense of smell. Wasn't too hard to figure out." She said. "So who are you anyway, besides Spider Man?" She asked.

"Uh, P-Peter Parker…" He told her. '_Wow, is my mind playing tricks on me or does her nose wiggle in the cutest way when she's mad?... Why did I just think that?' _The boy thought as his thoughts started to drift away from jumping off the bridge.

"Well, let's go do something to try and take our mind off what almost happened then. Let's go, Peter." The girl said as she started walking away from the bridge while also dragging him away.

"Okayyyy-Whoa!" He yelped as he was dragged.

(Flashback End)

"Yeah… _crazy _Thursday." The boy chuckled awkwardly.

"So what brings you here?" Ronni Ann asked.

"Oh uh, I recently transferred here with a few of my friends after Agent Coulson became the principal, something about needing some young minds to help him make things better around here." The boy said nervously, not wanting to reveal that it was because he and his friends Danny Rand, Luke Cage, Sam Alexander and Ava Ayala worked for SHIELD as superheroes.

"Oh, well he's not wrong. Things have been getting really better here as of late." The girl nodded.

"Except with Gavin, he's been getting really angry a lot recently." Laura said as they entered their next class.

"How come?" Peter asked.

"Isn't it obvious? He's getting sick and tired of having to friend zone himself with our friend Rogue, I mean, he's head over heels in love with her." The girl told him, which surprised the pseudo vampire's old fencing partner.

"Wait, he's friend zoning himself? What is he thinking?! He's just going to suffer more if he doesn't take initiative!" She said in disbelief.

"He wants her to be happy and apparently Rogue was really into our other friend Scott Summers, so he was friend zoning himself to get her together with him." Laura explained as they sat down. "A truly selfless gesture, but also one that came back to bite him in the ass when Scott showed no interest in Rogue and Gavin thinking that she'll never like him the way he does her."

Ronni Ann frowned at what she heard. Gavn was suffering on an emotional level because of his own actions and he didn't seem to care, or didn't notice it at all. She was starting to grow concerned for her old fencing partner.

"Let's hope things get cleared up soon…" She said as class began.

(Elsewhere)

Lance was walking to the gym to meet Kitty for PE, when he noticed one of Magneto's goons, Gambit, was waiting for him as he leaned up against a tree. The next thing Lance knew, the southern gambler stopped him.

"What do you want?" He asked irritably.

"Nutin' much, just a little favor." The Cajun shrugged while sneakily snatching Lance's wallet without him noticing.

"That being what, exactly?" The walking Richter Scale questioned.

"Magneto wants you to help the Brotherhood bust out your old friend, Pietro. Apparently he's been taken by the marines after his sister attacked him." Gambit explained as he flipped through the wallet. "And believe me, you do _not_ wanna turn the man down." He added as he took out a photo of Kitty and looked at it.

"Please. I'm not interested in helping him." Lance said dismissively. But he froze when he saw his wallet and the picture and the man's hand.

"This ya girl?" The thief asked, showing him the picture. Lance growled as he snatched the wallet but was unable to get the picture.

"Yeah, what about it?" Lance asked.

"Well, it'd sure be a shame if somethin' were to happen to her." The man said as he used his powers to explosively charge the picture. "Let me put it this way: You don't help us? Ya girlfriend's toast." He said as he flicked the picture to the side, causing it to explode.

Lance growled angrily at this guy's nerve to threaten his crush. He wanted to bury him in rubble, but if he didn't do what he was told to do, Kitty was a goner.

"... Fine! But I'm not doing this for Pietro!" He growled.

"Fine by me. Besides, I respect a man who does things for those he cares about. Shows honor, somethin' I'm familiar with." Gambit shrugged. "Meet me at the Brotherhood place after school, then we'll talk."

Lance snarled. "Fine." He said as Gambit walked away.

(Elsewhere)

Gambit was walking across the school when he saw Rogue and Evan being harassed by two jugheads who had them cornered away where they wouldn't be spotted by Gavin or anyone else.

"Let me guess: You think we should be scared of you, right?" One of them asked stupidly.

"Well, if you want to that's fine." Evan shrugged. "But it's our other friends you should be worried about."

"Please. They can't help you here." The other one scoffed.

"Then I guess we'll have to make you back off!" Evan said as he deployed his spikes. Naturally the two dunces ran off while Evan struggled to get his spikes back in, before they bumped into Gambit.

"Things really are different around these parts, aren't they?" He mused with a smirk. Though as the two ran away scared from him, Rogue saw him leave.

(Later)

Rogue immediately went to find someone to tell them about what she just saw, when she bumped into Kitty as she watched Lance drive off after apparently blowing off their last class of the day.

"Oh boy… This is gonna be trouble, Ah know it." She groaned. "Kitty, what's up with Lance?" She asked as she ran up to her roommate.

"I don't know, I was just about to go to our last class with him and then he just, like, blew me off out of nowhere." The phasing girl huffed before her expression turned worried. "I hope he's not going to do anything stupid."

"Um, have you met Lance before?" Rogue asked with a raised eyebrow. "Anyway, Ah just saw one of Magneto's goons earlier, and now with Lance running off I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that he may be forcing Lance to help him with something."

"... You thinking what I'm thinking?" Kitty smirked.

"Yep, Ah think it's high time the Bayville Sirens got back to work." The Southern Belle said. "Come on, let's go get the girls, and let's bring Laura too. She'll love this."

(Elsewhere)

Lance was in his X-Men costume with Blob and Toad with him, and the transporter that had Pietro was coming into view.

"Just so you guys know, I'm just doing this to protect Kitty, and nothing else." He told the two behind him.

"We figured as much." The fat mutant shrugged.

"Hey, I feel ya Lancey, I really do." Toad added.

The walking earthquake sighed as he got ready to cause a landslide, when he was suddenly flying sidekicked in the face by Laura who was in a pair of black pants, black combat boots, a black leather corset that complemented her C-cup chest, and her same gauntlets which she had a black pair of, lastly she was also wearing a pair of sunglasses that looked like they belonged in The Matrix.

"What the-?! Laura?! What're you doing here?!" Lance snapped as he shook his head.

"Stopping you from doing something stupid, that's what." She shot back.

"I'm doing this to protect Kitty! If I don't, Magneto'll send Gambit, or worse, _Sabertooth _to kill her!" The boy snapped as the transport started to get closer and the girls all came out of hiding, Kitty having heard everything and was _very _flattered that Lance was so protective of her.

"I'm actually flattered you care about me this much Lance, but I can handle myself. You don't have to worry. If he does send either of them after me, they, like, have a to go through everyone else… Including an angry Gavin if they make Damian cry." The phasing girl replied, that last bit being a very real fact.

"I know, it's just that-I _really _don't want you to get hurt." He told her, his face written with guilt. "I'm sorry I got you dragged into my mess." He told her.

"I think she pretty much threw herself into it at this point." Tabitha commented offhandedly.

"Uh, guys… We got company." Fred told them as they turned and saw Wanda walking down the road, completely unaware of them and standing in the road with her arms crossed, most likely to recapture Pietro to use as bait.

"What in the world is she doing out here?" Jean wondered.

"Answer: probably nothing good." Amara said as Wanda rose her hands and HeXed the trucks, causing their engines to explode and them to crash into the cliff, causing the holding cell Pietro was in to fall over towards the edge.

"HELP ME!" The boy screamed in fear.

"Kitty, get him out of there!" Rogue ordered.

"Wait, no! You won't make it in time!" Lance said, but his warning was too late, as Kitty quickly jumped inside the container and then out again with Pietro, but not before the container fell over the edge and the phaser and silver speedster found themselves on the verge of falling to their dooms.

"KITTY!" Lance yelled as he tried to grab her hand before she fell, but was too late. "NOOOO!" He cried in dismay. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew past him before he heard two people breathing heavily behind him. Looking back, he let out a relieved sigh when he saw Pietro with Kitty in his arms. The silver haired boy set her down so she could get her bearings back.

"Thanks for that." She told him.

"Hey, you stuck your neck out for me. It'd be pretty dumb if I didn't return the favor." He panted in reply. "But _man_! I tell ya I have _never _run _that_ fast in my entire life. I mean seriously, it's amazing what a brush with death can do to a person." He said as he bent over while breathing heavily.

"Pietro…" Lance started as he walked up to him before placing a hand on his shoulder. "... Thanks for saving Kitty. You have no idea how worried I was about her." He told him.

"Hey, don't sweat it, we Mutants gotta stick together right? No matter what side we're on." The speedster told him while waving it off before noticing the marines headed their way. "Shoot! Come on Freddy, Toad, we better bail! See ya Lance, thanks for the save ladies!" He said before they all ran off.

"Well, at least we're kinda on good terms with them." Kitty sighed as the marines came up to them. "The military on the other hand…"

"Let me do the talking girls, you just make sure the Scarlet Witch didn't hurt any of them." Jean said as they approached the men as friendly as possible.

(Later)

Lance, Rogue and Kitty were now in the new temporary dining/meeting room with Scott and Xavier. Gavin was there too but for a completely different reason. Said pseudo vampire was still giving Scott a very murderous glare the entire time.

"While I'm not exactly going to say I don't understand why you did what you did, Lance, I still gotta admit not saying anything was pretty stupid of you." Scott told him. "Though honestly if I were in your place I'd probably have done the same thing."

"Yeah. It happened faster than I could act if I'm being honest. My bad." The earthquake generator sighed. "I just… That Gambit guy, he acted like he was _really _gonna hurt Kitty if I didn't cooperate and I just couldn't risk it." He added, which said valley girl responded by hugging him by the arm.

"Thanks for caring." She told him with a smile.

"As for you Gavin." Xavier told the boy as his red eyed stare refused to waver as he glared at Scott with enough intensity to make Freddy Kruger, Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, The Creeper, and Leatherface all drop dead just with a glance. Seriously, he was quite literally _glowing _with murderous intent. "I must ask but: you have been glaring at Scott very viscously for the past five minutes, why?" He asked.

"... You really wanna know that badly?" He asked, barely keeping a growl from his voice. He then pointed at Scott who was honestly starting to become _very _intimidated right now just by that action alone. "Ask _him_." He said before he got up and started walking away.

"And where do you think you're going?" The telepath asked.

"Out!" Gavin called back as he stepped out of the room, causing the tension in the room to disappear almost immediately.

"Scott… What was Gavin talking about just now?" Rogue asked in a worried tone.

"Well, I know this is gonna be hard to believe but, I'm pretty sure Gavin intentionally friend zoned himself with this girl he likes to help her get with the guy _she _likes, only for the guy to ignore her and now it's coming back to bite him in the ass." Scott explained.

"Oh dear... That is never a good thing to have happen for extended periods of time." The bald telepath said in concen.

"Wait, he mentioned this awhile back… What did he say the girl's name was?" Rogue asked, recognizing the story almost immediately.

"I think it was Anna Marie." The shaded teen shrugged, confirming Rogue's theory. But upon hearing that second part of the girls name, her silver eyes widened in shock.

'_Wait, but that's my name… Oh no, don't tell me…' _She thought as the realization hit her. '_Gavin's… In love with… ME?' _She thought in pure uninterrupted shock.

(Elsewhere)

Mystique was strapped down to an examination table while some scientists were running some tests on her unique mutant physiology, her body only being covered by two towels and a leather strap was put in her mouth to muffle her screaming. Syringes, scalpels and other instruments were all used on her still conscious body, and every time she struggled, the shock collar around her neck would send painful amounts of electricity through her body.

She was angry now, and there would be hell to pay to the two who left her here at the mercy of these mad men. As the doctors closed her wounds enough for her to heal, another brought two defibrillators up to the sides of her head, before rubbing them together.

"Clear." He said before he put them to her head and electric currents went through her brain and her muffled screaming continued to echo throughout the base she was in.

Now she knew how Chelsea and the others felt….

**Dragon Emperor0: Okay** **I know that Mystique isn't exactly the best person in the world, but damn, with what they're doing to her you'd think they're trying to brainwash her like with Chelsea and the others.**

**ThermalsniperN7: If these dickheads are surviving HYDRA members, maybe Gavin'll take pity on her and bust her out. If not… Well, he still might, depending on who's running the place.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Yeah, also, looks like Rogue is **_**finally **_**starting to come around. Better late than never, I guess, right?**

**ThermalsniperN7: Fair enough. Let's just hope she'll be able to sort out her emotions when the final test comes around.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Jesus fucking Christ, you're right! We still have two chapters until the big Self Possessed incident happens and one chapter before Gavin's fuse shorts and he blows up like the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs! God Almighty, this is gonna get **_**NUTS**_**!**

**ThermalsniperN7: I want to say that it won't be that crazy, buuuuut this **_**is **_**Gavin we're talking about here, so that's about right. He's gonna need a shoulder to cry on after the stress is unloaded.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Yeah… Anyway guys, see you guys next time!**


	57. Chapter 57

**Chapter 57: Working with Blinders On**

The Institute was finally entering the final stages of construction and everyone was pitching in, even Gavin, though since he was still very much erratic he mainly stuck to working at night. Chelsea did some work, but nothing too strenuous so not to put stress on her growing baby inside her.

As of right now, Logan and Scott were currently in the middle of installing a satellite dish which Jean lifted up to them while Roberto, Sam and Roxy were planting trees and digging holes for said trees respectively. Jamie was painting the Institute with his duplicates, Amara and Pele were melting the walkway back together, and Bobby and Beast were setting up the central power grid.

Rogue was hanging up decorations with Evan putting down the carpet with Lance helping Devin with the furniture, Bast was restocking medical supplies, Romano was helping Forge tune up the Danger Room, Kurt and Kitty were bringing up tools for Scott and Logan, and finally Ray, Jubilee and Rahne we're helping with the lights while Kai and Storm filled up the fountain after Jean got its statue in place.

"Everything's really coming together, aren't they?" Kai mused as she looked around.

"Yes, it looks good." Storm nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it really does." Jean said, though her gaze, which was fixed on a shirtless Scott, conveyed she wasn't talking about the Institute.

This action caused Gavin, who was with Chelsea, to let out a low hiss while Laura passed them carrying a vase into the house.

"What's your deal?" She asked him.

"I keep seeing something that's getting close to setting me off." He growled in reply.

"That being…?" The blonde questioned.

"Something personal." The boy responded.

"Okay." She shrugged, deciding to not push his buttons.

Meanwhile with Logan and Scott, they were still putting up the satellite when Scott kept looking at Jean. "Hey Logan, have you felt really attracted to someone before you met Chelsea? Ya know like your brain and heart were telling you: 'She's the one'?" The boy asked.

"Yep, once. Most beautiful motorcycle I ever saw. I was so speechless, someone else bought her." The clawed man said as he got the pliers.

"That's not exactly what I meant." Scott deadpanned.

"Yeah, well let me tell you this: If you don't tell her, I'll do it for you." Logan said knowingly, causing the shaded teen to take on a nervous stance.

"No no, I'll tell her." He replied. Right at that moment, a raven suddenly came out of nowhere, prompting Scott to shoo it away.

"Vait, vhat about Rogue?" Kurt asked as he teleported to them with more tools.

"What about her?" Scott asked.

"Vell, I can't exactly say for sure, but I'm pretty sure I overheard Laura talking to her friends and they mentioned she's had a crush on you for avhile." The blue devil told them.

"Huh?! Why didn't she say anything?!" The laser eyed boy questioned.

"You're asking the wrong person for zhat one." Kurt replied as he put the tools down and teleported elsewhere.

"Boy, that's going to be a nightmare to resolve…" Scott groaned as he facepalmed.

(Later)

Scott was walking to another part of the Institute when he bumped into Jean, causing them to fumble over their words.

"Oh, uh, hey Jean." He greeted her.

"Hey Scott." The redhead replied.

The two were silent for a moment before they both spoke. "Listen, there's something I need to tell you." They both said at the same time.

"Um, you first." The telepath said awkwardly.

"No no, you first." The shaded teen returned just as awkwardly.

"Oh for fuck's sake, just get it done already!" Gavin yelled as he finally managed to get his coffin into his room.

"Not helping, Gavin!" The cycloptic Mutant called back.

"Suck a cock, Summers!" The pseudo vampire yelled back.

The shaded teen sighed and was about to say something to Jean when the phone suddenly rang, making him groan.

"Sorry Jean, I gotta take this." Scott said as he answered his phone.

"_Hey Scott, sorry to call you but I'm stuck in Mexico." _His brother Alex said as soon as he could be heard.

"What are you doing in Mexico, anyway?" Scott asked his brother.

"_I was heading back from a surfing competition in Cabo, and I lost my passport. Can you come get me?" _The surfer asked.

"Oh jeez… Yeah. I'll be there as soon as I can get a flight." He replied, feeling stupefied that his brother lost his passport like that.

"_Thanks bro." _The blonde told him before he hung up.

"Sorry, I gotta go, we'll talk later." The teen told the telepath.

"Okay." Jean nodded.

"Hold it." Gavin said as he leapt down in front of Scott. "I'm coming with you. Something tells me this isn't exactly what it seems. Besides…" He then got up close to the teen. "_We_ need to have a talk." He added.

"Um… About what?" The laser shooting boy asked in confusion.

"Oh, you'll find out." The vampire themed boy told him.

"O-kay…" Scott said nervously as the two left to get Alex. Once they met the blonde beach bum in Mexico, he suddenly took them into a side hall, and just like Gavin predicted, it wasn't Alex, but instead it was the one person that the pseudo vampire wanted dead more than anyone else in the world (save Scott): Mystique.

"Big mistake showing your face again, you blue skinned whore." The boy growled. "Cuz now you just gave me the excuse I've been waiting for."

"Excuse to do what, exactly?" Mystique asked in a snide tone.

"I thought it'd be obvious. I'm gonna kill you!" Gavin shot back with a glare as he lunged at the shapeshifter faster than Scott could stop him.

However before he could land on her, she sidestepped him and shoved something in his mouth, which exploded and filled his system with enough sedative to knock out an elephant before he collapsed on the ground and she threw a similar capsule at Scott and knocked him out as well.

'_Payback time, you two.' _She thought with a vengeful look on her face.

(Later)

Scott woke up around an hour later and then woke up to getting kicked in the stomach by a _very _pissed off Gavin, who had woken up thirty minutes before him.

"Well this is a _fine _mess you've gotten us into this time Scott, what's next? Ya gonna piss off the mafia so they'll send us to sleep with the fishes? Huh?!" He snapped at him angrily as Scott tumbled to the ground.

"What are you talking about? Where are we?" He groaned in pain as he got up.

"Where are we?! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING DESERT!" He yelled furiously at their predicament. "You do realize that this is all your fault, right? If you hadn't been so preoccupied with _fawning _over your stupid crush you would have noticed how stupid and flimsy Mystique's attempt to get us down here was! And now we're stuck here, in the middle of god knows where, all because of _you_!" The pseudo vampire yelled and ranted before shoving Scott down onto the dirt again.

"Alright! I was being a complete idiot and I should've been more attentive. Can we _please _save the rest of this for after we're back home?" The teen asked before he noticed something. "Also, where are my shades?" He asked.

"Hell if I know. Hang on I got spare of my own right… here." Gavin said before he pulled out a pair of broken Oakley sunglasses. "... That bitch is gonna be _begging _me to kill her when I'm through with her." He growled.

"Great… well I'm gonna need you to help me move so we can find some help." Scott told him.

"You say that as if I don't know that, Captain obvious." The red eyed teen retorted. "Just shut up and hold on to my jacket, now come on."

(Much later, night)

Hours had passed and there was no sign of civilization, only the desert around them. Both boys were very tired right now, and they were pretty much starving at this point.

"If we don't find anything to eat soon, I'm eating your soul." Gavin told Scott as they decided to sit down after walking for so long.

Before Scott could say anything, the two stranded boys tensed as they heard growling nearby… And it was getting closer.

"We're surrounded by coyotes, aren't we?" The temporarily blinded teen asked warily.

"Let me handle them, I'm the one who has night vision." Gavin said as he started rolling up his pants legs and taking off his shirt and jacket to reveal he was wearing full locked on body weights. After he unlocked them, they all fell off with massive thuds, creating several craters as he stretched. "Now, who's first?" He asked.

"How much did those things weigh?" Scott asked.

"The same weight as a jumbo jet. And even with those, my strength and speed match both Pietro and Juggernaut. Now imagine how I am without them." Gavin said as he caught a lunging coyote by the throat and killed it by barely squeezing his hand.

Scott just stayed silent, opting to busy himself with what he was just told. He knew Gavin was already a tough person by the time he went on his global manhunt with the Sever siblings, but he had never actually seen that in action. If he was being honest, he thought letting the weights come off was overkill for a pack of coyotes.

"I've been wanting to take my anger out on something for a long time now. I don't know if I've ever told you this, Scott, but I never really liked you." He said as he backhanded a coyote over the cliff a few yards away and drop-kicked another in front of him. "You always pissed me off with how much of a _simp _you were towards Jean, so much that you didn't even realize that you had a girl who was already in love with you right in front of you!" He added as he ripped the jaw off of a coyote who jumped at him from the side.

"Yeah, I'm starting to notice." Scott groaned, feeling like a total idiot about how stupid he was being for so long.

"Yeah well, too little, TOO LATE!" Gavin roared as he released a shockwave of his smoke which sent the entire pack of coyotes flying. "... I really do hate you. I put my own feelings aside to help Rogue get you to notice her and you just ignored her like you thought she wasn't worth your time." He then hoisted Scott up by his collar. "Well guess what? When we get back to the Institute, I'm going to make you _pay _for breaking the heart of the woman I love." He growled, fully intent on carrying out that promise.

The normally shaded teen could only gulp nervously in response. Letting out a shaky sigh, Gavin threw him down and turned away. "I can hear a Jeep a couple miles from here, shoot a laser so they can see us." He told him.

Wanting to be out of this desert just as much as him, Scott did as told and shot a laser blast into the sky and maintained it for five seconds before closing his eyes again.

After a few minutes the flash of headlights slowly came towards them, and some telephone line workers came up to them in a Jeep. After explaining their situation to them, the workers quickly rushed both boys to the nearest hospital.

Unknown to them, Mystique was watching with a scowl at seeing her revenge interrupted before she changed into a vulture to follow them from the air.

(Elsewhere)

Back at the Institute, both Jean and Rogue woke up suddenly when both had a bad dream, and were also awakened by Damian who started crying for the Southern Belle having experienced a similar dream of his own.

"Ma Ma!" He cried while still in his crib. Rogue immediately rushed to his side and started calming him down.

"Shhhh. It's alright, sweetie. Mama's here." She said in a soothing tone. "It's okay, mama's got you." She cooed as the boy whimpered.

"Looks like we all had a bad dream." Jean said.

"This can't be a coincidence." Rogue told her. "Something's wrong, something's very _very _wrong."

"Da da…" Damian whined as he buried his face in Rogue's chest, seeking comfort from the girls soft bosom.

"If the conditions were different, I'd disagree with you. But since it was all three of us at once, something is definitely wrong." Jean nodded as they went to the living room. The redhead then decided to call Alex. "Alex, did Scott and Gavin leave after they picked you up in Mexico?... Wait what? You weren't in Mexico at all, then who-? Oh no…" She gasped as she realized what happened. "Oh my god…"

"What is it?" Rogue asked as she continued to comfort Damian.

"I think Scott and Gavin May have been tricked into going to Mexico by Mystique." She explained. Naturally, Rogue felt triggered instantly.

"How dare she do that _and _make Damian cry!" She growled. Even if it was indirect, the blue skinned shapeshifter still made him cry.

"We need to find them soon. Before Mystique can do anything to them… Or before Gavin can do anything he'll regret." Jean said as the two went to find the professor.

(Elsewhere)

Both boys were now in a hospital and Gavin was basically given a clean bill of health since his healing factor healed everything already. However, Scott was still being checked out and when the doctors tried to open up his eyes to check him for a concussion…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The pseudo vampire told them.

"This has to be done to make sure he's fine." The doctor replied.

"Well, he's got a nasty eye condition that makes him sensitive to light and if you shine that in his eyes, you might cause irreparable damage to them." Gavin explained, quickly coming up with a cover story and hoping the doctors would buy it. "Besides, I've been around that guy for most of the day, the only thing that he has that even remotely resembles a concussion is the headache he has from being pumped full of enough sedatives to knock out a horse." He added.

The doctors looked skeptical about the part about the sedatives, but the part about his eyes sounded solid enough for them to just leave that alone, wanting to avoid causing any serious harm.

With that, Gavin collapsed on the hospital bed. "Gavin, tell me something. If you really hated me, why didn't you just leave me out there to die?" Scott asked as the nurses left him a pair of shades.

"I may hate you, but I don't want you dead. That's too far." The pseudo vampire replied. The two then spent a few hours resting after getting patched up before they decided to leave, however, as they tried to make their way somewhere to find a way home, several men surrounded them. This was a bad move on their part since Gavin was ready to strike to kill at any moment since Mystique was still after them.

"Alright assholes, unless you wanna end up as stains on the pavement, I suggest you leave us alone." He growled.

"Oh yeah? Is that supposed to scare us?" One of them asked stupidly.

"It should." The boy replied before he slammed the guy into a wall before hurling him towards the others and then pinning the last one to the wall by his shirt while the others ran away. "Now leave us alone, or I'll rip your mother fucking throat out." He growled. The display caused the rest of the thugs to get scared and scatter.

"Bravo." The person he had pinned said in a very familiar voice. This caused Gavin to get uncomfortably close to Mystique as she transformed back. "Well? Are you going to kill me or kiss me?" She asked. Gavin responded by throwing her a few feet from him.

"I'm going to kill you so thoroughly, that your own children won't be able to recognize your remains." The boy growled as he snapped a reed bar in half with one kick and dashed towards Mystique before stabbing her in the stomach with it.

"Ngh!" The woman grunted in pain, blood seeping from the wound.

"I've been dreaming about this, the moment I finally get to _end _you after all the shit you put me through!" He growled as he pulled the bar out of her stomach. "Get up, I know you heal quickly, so get up."

Mystique growled as she got back to her feet, her wound closing at a rate slower than Gavin's, Wolverine's and Chelsea's. "I will make you feel pain!" She exclaimed as she lept at him.

"Heads up." Gavin said as he side stepped her and Scott blasted her into the air and then into the catacombs down below them. Gavin then leapt down towards her and got on top of her before he started beating the blue skinned woman over and over again.

"Gavin stop! You can't kill her, if you do then you'll just be as bad as she is!" Scott yelled down to him.

"I've been put through the damn wringer because of this bitch! How the hell am I not in the right to get some form of retribution against her?!" He yelled back, pausing in his beating.

"Because you'd just be committing a senseless murder if you kill her now. You're way stronger than her and she obviously can't defend herself against you, so you'd be committing a first degree murder if you do that!" Scott yelled.

Gavin looked at Scott before looking at the now out cold and bruised Mystique before he let out a sigh. "You're right… I would be doing that." He admitted before he got up and turned into smoke to get back to the surface. Though once he did he then punched Scott in the face, breaking the glasses he got earlier. "But don't get all high and mighty with me, got it?" He snapped.

"Got it…" The laser shooter groaned in reply. It was around that time that Jean and Rogue found them, both having passed out due to how exhausted they were.

"Come on, let's get these two out of here. They've obviously been through a lot." Jean said as she picked up Scott.

Rogue picked up Gavin and held him close, after they got into the X-Jet, both boys slowly woke up in the girls arms, and Jean gave Scott his shades back.

"I'm glad you're okay." Jean told him while kissing his forehead.

"Yeah. Thanks for coming for us." He replied as he relaxed and rested his head on her shoulder.

Rogue sighed sadly, seeing that her chances with Scott were definitely over, but decided that wasn't important right now. "Gavin… Ah was so worried about you, don't you ever scare me like this again. And don't keep your feelings hidden from me anymore. You're always there for me, so Ah want you to remember that I'm here for you. Okay?" She told him while squishing his head into her DD-cup chest.

"... Okay." Came the muffled reply of Gavin, who was blushing heavily right now due to Rogue's actions.

"Good." She smiled while kissing his forehead as well. '_Ah think tomorrow would be a good time to try and address everything that's happening between us.' _She added mentally as the pseudo vampire fell asleep in her arms.

(The next day)

Scott flew backwards through the air as he was punched across the danger room the next day after school and he tried to get up as he looked at a still pissed off Gavin.

"I don't get it Gavin, we talked everything out, why are you still mad at me?" He asked before he slowly started to remember what the boy had told him the day before. "... Oh, right. That's why." He groaned as the pseudo vampire charged towards him.

This was not going to end well…

**Dragon Emperor0: Hmmm, ya know, with how things are progressing, I wonder if we'd be dragging things out too long if we left Gavin and Rogue's confessions until Self Possessed.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how things turn out, the way I see it.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Though you have to admit Gavin did have a point, Scott was kinda simping on Jean this entire time. Didn't even notice how much Rogue liked him.**

**ThermalsniperN7: He really was. Seriously, exercise some sense of awareness for the people who have romantic feelings for you and try to address them carefully. If you don't… Well, you'll get something like what Scott's gonna be going through.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Join us next week for the next chapter: You Can't Stop a Heart from Breaking. The chapter where Gavin's anger reaches its climax and fall, and possibly where Rogue and Gavin get together depending on how things go. But until then, see you all next week!**


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter 58: You Can't Stop a Heart from Breaking.**

Scott flew backwards through the air as he was punched across the danger room the next day after school and he tried to get up as he looked at a still pissed off Gavin.

"I don't get it Gavin, we talked everything out, why are you still mad at me?" He asked before he slowly started to remember what had happened hours before. "... Oh, right. That's why." He groaned as the pseudo vampire charged towards him.

Now you might be wondering why all this is happening so late after the Blind Alley incident? Well, let's backtrack a bit to give you a better picture then…

(Earlier that week)

About a week after Gavin and Scott got lost in the desert, everyone was trying to help keep the pseudo vampire calm since it seemed that the two's anger towards each other was reaching its boiling point.

Right now the students had just finished a Danger Room Session organized by Chelsea. Most everyone was panting and stretching after the tiring work out, talking about what they thought was the hardest part.

"Alright kiddos," Chelsea said as she walked through the sliding doors of the Danger Room, hands on her hips. She looked very obviously pregnant at this point, and was wearing a suit that accommodated it. "Good job. But a few pointers."

"Aw, c'mon Marks, ve're exhausted." Kurt groaned.

"Great, you can sleep when you're dead." She said lately. "So guys, I know that you all have been trained to fight as a team. I know that it's important to know how to work with your teammates, BUT this was a solo exercise. Y'all gotta get better about watching your own backs, even when you have your team with you. Most of you did pretty well, but Spike, Kurt, and Rogue, you'll need to get better about being more aware about your surroundings. Other than that class dismissed." Everyone began to file out before Chels called out again. "Except you Rogue. We need to talk."

"Man, Ah thought Ah was doing pretty good back there." The southerner groaned to Gavin who was by her side.

"You did. I'm sure she's just going to give you some pointers." He said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "And I know this was a solo thing, but thanks for having my back back there. I was distracted, and I think I would have been hit if it wasn't for you."

"Ya welcome." She smiled, walking towards their instructor. "What'd ah do Marks?"

"You caught feelings, that's what you did." The blond said, arms crossed.

"Excuse me?!" Rogue said, somewhat offended. "What does that mean?"

"You and vampy." Chels nodded towards the door where he just left. "You were trying to protect him and were sticking by him more than any of your other teammates. Why else would that be the case?"

"Because he's my friend!" Rogue defended. "Besides, it's what we're trained to do most of the time. We hardly ever do solo runs like this, you can't blame me for looking out for him."

"Well ya see that's the problem, in any other circumstances you'd have a point, but here's the thing: you were only backing him up." The blonde said simply. "You see it's like this, if you were trying to keep up with him and still help the others I wouldn't think it was too weird because of your training, but you went to Gavin's side specifically, why?"

"Because Ah saw he was distracted." Rogue stated.

"And how'd you know that just by looking at him?" Chelsea continued.

"Me and him have history together, okay? We're close friends and know each other inside and out, doesn't mean Ah'm in love with him, Chels, that's totally different." The goth snapped.

"Who said anything about love?" The blond cocked an eyebrow at the younger girl.

"A-ah... You implied it!" The Southern Belle stammered.

"Noooo. I said you caught feelings. Though if this doesn't prove I'm right..." The blonde said as she trailed off.

"Marks, drop it." Rogue scowled. "I don't need you taunting me."

"Kid, I'm not. Look, your emotions are your own. But you can't let them get in the way while on the field." Chelsea said sternly before her voice got a bit softer. "Believe me, I know. It doesn't end well. I'm just trying to help you."

"Did you have someone you had feelings for?" Rogue asked.

"I did, you know Marcus?" She asked, Rogue nodded in response. "We had something like that, but it wasn't romantic or anything, we just had a deep devotion to each other, maybe that could be classified as love, but I don't know." Chelsea nodded. "I'm just trying to tell you that you have to be careful, for both your sakes.

Rogue nodded. "Okay."

"Now that aside, how do you know that you aren't in love with that Vampire loving goofball? What, are you still chasing after Scott?" The Dragoness questioned.

"Ah was trying to, but…" She trailed off, trying to find the right words. "Ever since what happened to him and Gavin earlier this week, Ah'm pretty sure my chances are over."

"Better get it off your chest then, ya know, just to get it over with." The blonde suggested. Rogue blushed at her words.

"B-but Ah can't b-be th-that forward!" She stammered.

"I meant Scott, Rogue. If your chances are really over, what's stopping you from telling him to 'rip off the bandaid' (is that how you say it)?" Chelsea clarified.

"Um… I guess you're right." She admitted before she sighed. "It's still gonna hurt me badly, though." She added.

"Kid, I've been through enough shit to know that what doesn't literally kill you, will tend to make you stronger." The Dragoness told her. "And unless this is gonna kill you? I'd say you'll be just fine."

"Ah guess so." Rogue sighed, not looking forward to this. As the two walked down the hall, Rogue looked at Chelsea's slowly growing 'outline' of a baby bump and her hand subconsciously went to her own. "Chelsea… Do you think Ah'd be a good mom?" She asked. The blonde looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Why are you asking me that? You already are. Damian can easily agree with that statement." She replied easily.

"Ah know but, Ah'm just worried that if Ah had a baby, Ah'd end up hurting it." The girl said, her hand drifting over her cheek. Chelsea stopped walking and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"That _won't _happen. You won't hurt it, and you most certainly won't abandon it, either." She told her with conviction that seemed infectious because Rogue started to feel the same way.

"Ah… No, you're right." Rogue said before shaking her head and nodded. "Thanks Chelsea."

"No problem." She nodded as they continued to walk forward. '_I just hope I can be the same way.' _She thought to herself.

(Later)

"So, what did you need, Rogue?" Scott asked as Rogue stood with him outside the kitchen.

"There's… Something Ah gotta tell you." Rogue began, trying to proceed carefully. She was about to start speaking when Scott stopped her.

"Actually, there's something I need to tell you, too." He said, nervously scratching his neck. "I'm uh… I just wanted to apologize for not recognizing your feelings. And I'm sorry about ignoring them… and causing you so much pain. I'm really sorry."

"Y-yeah… Ah do like you that way, but…" She trailed off. "Ah know you don't feel that way about me."

"I'm sorry, Rogue." The shaded teen told her while hugging her comfortingly. Rogue felt heartbroken, and it hurt, but at least Scott was being gentle about it.

Meanwhile, Gavin was watching behind another wall and he gripped it hard, causing it to crack as he grit his teeth angrily.

'_There will be HELL to pay!' _He thought angrily. Later on, Gavin decided to try and make Rogue feel better by trying to fix her something to eat, but unfortunately this was partially ruined when Jean decided that she wanted to make out with Scott when they were entering the room and the teen (unknowingly) reciprocated right in front of the Southern Belle. This just made her feel worse.

"Ahem." Gavin coughed to get their attention. "Wrong place for that." He told them with an irritated look as he glanced at Rogue and nearly snapped when he saw tears flowing from her eyes.

As the two separated, Gavin walked over to Scott and then dragged him out of the room. "Come on, you're coming with me." He growled.

(Back to present time)

Gavin was now punching Scott over and over, almost exclusively aiming for his face, then he grabbed the sides of the teenager's head and then kneed him hard, breaking both his shades and his nose in the process.

"Ngh!" The teen grunted as he staggered back and held his nose while he had his eyes closed. Gavin charged at him and managed to perform a dropkick on the laser eyed teen, sending him to the ground.

"That was the _last _straw, Scott." Gavin growled. "You better start fighting back, or you'll die." He snarled, removing all his weights, releasing his body to use his full strength in his base form and went to Level one.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Gavin, hold on!" Scott said as he waved his hands defensively. "We don't have to do this! I mean, can't we just talk this out? We're both civilized men here so why don't we just talk instead of fight. Besides, you're way stronger than me. _Leagues, _stronger. So honestly this'd just be a waste of your time and energy, don't you think? I mean, you are an Omega Level mutant after all-" he began before Gavin interrupted.

"Oh you dirty bitch, work the shaft." He said in faux bliss.

"... What?" The other teen asked in confusion.

"Oh, sorry. I like to dirty talk when someone's _sucking my dick._" Gavin replied casually. "Face it Scotty, you're not talking your way out of this shit."

"... You want it so badly? Fine then." Scott sighed and shot back, deciding to just give him what he wants to get this over with faster. Opening his eyes, he blasted the pseudo vampire at full power, but Gavin just growled as he walked through the laser and his healing factor healed him before he grabbed Scott by the face and slammed it into the wall and dragging him across it before slamming his face into the ground several times and finally stomping on it.

It was at this point that Rogue and Jean came into the observation room with all of the teachers, and were witnessing Gavin beating the shit out of Scott.

"Okay, why is this happening?" Logan asked.

"I think I may know why." Jean told them. "I read his mind when he dragged Scott away. His anger towards him for ignoring Rogue's feelings towards him and focusing on me boiled over today. And now he's blown up." She finished as she saw Gavin shoulder bash Scott into another wall before he used a loose panel as a fly swatter and sent him flying.

"I'll let Bast know that she's gonna have a patient coming her way soon." Chelsea sighed, knowing that she couldn't make Gavin stop at this point.

"Wait, you're not going to stop him?!" Rogue asked incredulously.

"I know I can't. I mean healing factor or not, I _am _pregnant so I gotta be careful and I have no idea what turning into my dragon form will affect the baby." The blonde told her. "So someone else is gonna have to do it."

"Who's going to do it, then?" Jean asked.

"I'll do it." Rogue said. "There's something we need to talk about anyway."

Meanwhile with the two boys, they were now trading blows, as well as _very _personal insults. "I don't see what Rogue saw in you, Scott. A guy who is so fixated on one person to where he breaks the hearts of every other girl who likes him? That makes no sense!" Gavin growled as he yelled in pain while relocating his currently dislocated shoulder. "And on top of that, you're constantly hiding everything. Your real feelings for Jean, your real emotions towards everyone else, you even hide behind those shades because you think it'll keep you from hurting someone. You know who else hides? Cowards! Why would anyone ever love a coward?" He growled.

"There's the pot calling the kettle black, what's that say about you?" Scott growled as he put his nose hack in place. "You need a bunch of occult seals just so you can keep your powers in check. And you've killed people before and didn't even bat an eye as you did it! You're unstable, and you know it!" He yelled.

"Those assholes deserved to die and you know it! And you wanna see the real me? Fine. I'm in my Level one personality now. So why don't you try your luck, bitch? Well then…" He growled before he unleashed his smoke and created tendrils out of it. "HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT!" He yelled.

"ALRIGHT THEN!" Scot yelled back in return as he fired a blast at max power.

But before their attacks could hit each other, Rogue deflected them and caused a portion of the ceiling to explode. She then glared at the two as she floated in the air as cosmic energy flowed in her hands.

"Enough is enough, you two!" She said sternly.

"Get out of the way, Rogue, this doesn't concern you." The pseudo vampire told his crush, an unwavering want to get _some _form of satisfaction for what Scott put her through and, unintentionally, him as well.

"Ro-" Scott tried to say before…

"ENOUGH!" She yelled angrily, a blast of cosmic energy sending them flying back.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Gavin yelled as he forced a panel that fell on top of him off. "Don't you realize that I'm doing this to make him pay for what he did to you?!" He snapped as Rogue started walking up to him, an angry look on her face while cosmic energy radiated off of her.

"This is how you want to go about it?! Ah never asked you to do this, dammit! If you'd just given me some time, Ah'd be fine!" She snapped back at him.

"Don't you think I know that? I'm not just doing this because he hurt you, but because it _pissed me off_ to see you hurt. And that _my _efforts to help you get together with him was basically _pointless_!" He yelled back as a single tear started to fall. "_I _put aside my feelings for you for _your _sake. And what did it get either of us? _NOTHING_!" He yelled angrily. "Don't you get it? I did all this because I _love _you, and all of it was for nothing!" He added right before….

*_**SLAP!**_*

Rogue slapped him across the face, _hard_, leaving a red hand mark on his left cheek and making him stagger. He looked back at Rogue, who had a displeased look on her face.

"This is _not _what Ah wanted you to do! Ah never asked you to hurt yourself over this, nor did Ah want you to! You could've just come clean about it, but you made yourself suffer instead!" She yelled before she slumped and sighed, her cosmic energy fading.

Both Mutants were silent as Rogue looked back up at Gavin, who stared at her in shock. Sighing, she then looked him in the eye. "Gavin…" She said as she walked up to him and hugged his face into her chest. "I love you too… And I think Ah always have, Ah just never realized it." She told him, then seconds later felt him shaking as he started to cry into her chest as he fell to his knees. Scott looked at the scene and sighed before he started limping away to the medical bay so he could get his injuries looked at.

As the auburn haired girl held her crying friend in her arms she continued to let him muzzle himself deeper into her chest and didn't even bother to worry about the fact that she was getting wet. As he finally managed to calm down after about twenty minutes of crying, she loosened her grip on him.

"Gavin… Gavin, look at me." She told him as her silver eyes met his red ones.

"... I acted like an idiot, didn't I…?" He asked, feeling emotionally drained.

"You did… But it is sweet that you wanted me to be happy and were willing to go to such lengths to do it." She nodded with a smile while hugging him. "But, Ah think that's just another reason Ah love you, you'd do anything to make me happy." She smiled before she leaned down and kissed him on the lips in their first 'actual' kiss.

Up in the control room, Logan and Chelsea smiled at the sight.

"About damn time." The scraggly man commented.

"Yeah. Those two deserve each other." The Dragoness nodded.

Back with the new couple, they both started to make out as Gavin moved from her lips to sinking his fangs into her neck.

(Later that night)

It was nighttime in Bayville and two teenagers were checking into a hotel. It was Gavin and Rogue, and once they did, the pseudo vampire started to carry his new girlfriend into their room while putting a 'do not disturb' sign on the door.

Once this was done, Gavin set Rogue on the room's king sized bed as he slowly started to take off his jacket, shirt and other clothes.

"Are you sure you wanna do this? I mean we can just stop if this is too far." He asked as he stood there in front of her, shirtless.

"Ah think both of us have waited long enough." Rogue replied as she took off her transparent shirt, her shoes and her pants. Gavin nodded as he undressed the rest of the way and climbed onto the bed, crawling towards her and kissing her passionately as his arms wrapped around her and he slowly started to unclasp the girl's bra.

Pulling back the two panted as Gavin looked at Rogue's pale, but beautiful breasts as well as every inch of her gorgeous body that was currently bare to him.

"You're so beautiful." He gasped as she laid down underneath him, allowing him to slowly remove her panties while she removed his boxers. Rogue smiled as she kissed his neck and went down to his chest while he did the same to her breasts.

"You don't look so bad yourself." She smiled before gasping and moaning in pleasure as he started to suck on her left breast. Then she nearly screamed when he started fingering her and pinched her clit. "Oh, Gavin! Yes! Yes! More!" She moaned.

Gavin kept continuing his actions and was satisfied by how much pleasure he was able to give his girlfriend. He kept this string of actions up until Rogue reached her climax five minutes later, and when she did reach it…

"AH'M CUMMING!" She nearly yelled as she squirted her juices all over Gavin's hand. The pseudo vampire retracted his hand from where it was as he swirled his tongue around her left nipple and let go of it with a popping sound before he held his cum drenched fingers in front of her face, which she eagerly sucked on while in her pleasure drunk state as he sunk his fangs into her neck.

After draining her a bit to get his own strength up and after she obediently finished sucking his fingers clean, the body then went down in between the pale girl's legs and spread them before he started kissing, licking and drinking from her soaking wet cunt, making sure to suck and nibble on her currently partially swollen clit.

On instinct, Rogue's hands went to the back of Gavin's head and kept him there as he continued to please her as she let out moans of pleasure.

"Ro-Ann, you have no idea how long I've been wanting to do this. You taste… You taste amazing!" He told her as he continued to lap up her juices while pleasuring her, deciding to use her real name.

"Ah bet Ah taste amazing…" She moaned in a pleasure induced haze. Though as soon as he beared down even harder… "AAAAAHHHHH!" She screamed as she came all over Gavin's face this time.

"Delicious." He commented with a smile as he cleaned his face off. He then got onto the bed and got Rogue on the floor. "I'm pretty sure it's my turn." He said.

Rogue nodded as she got on her knees and stroked his member to life, which was a solid six in length and three in width, and soon became hard as a rock. Then she started kissing and licking it, causing her boyfriend to let out pleased groans, prompting her to continue. After a minute had passed, she surprised him by taking three quarters of his length into her mouth in one go, causing him to throw his head back as he let out a surprised yelp before his hands clasped the back of her head and kept her there.

"Ann… Rogue… Oh god, don't stop!" He groaned as he held her in place while she bobbed her head up and down on his cock, the size causing her to gag slightly. After two minutes of sucking him off, she felt his member twitch and throb.

'_Here it comes…!' _She thought in anticipation.

"CUMMING!" Gavin yelled as he came down her throat and then she slowly started to suck it out of him before she pulled back and swallowed the load happily.

"Mmmm, tasty." She smiled before she pushed him down on the bed. "Ready?" She asked as she hovered her hips over his still erect cock.

"Yeah. Go ahead." He urged her. With that, she slammed her hips down onto him, destroying her hymen and ridding herself of her virginity. Gavin was in a similar boat since this was the first time he had sex that he was actually aware of.

"Oh fuck! You're so tight!" He groaned as she started rocking back and forth in his lap as he laid down. "It feels like I'm in a vice grip!"

"You're so big! It feels so good…!" The girl on top of him moaned in pleasure as she continued rocking on him.

Leaning up, Gavin took her into his arms and started thrusting like mad while Rogue threw her head back as her eyes rolled backwards and her tongue dangled from her mouth while her legs wrapped around his waist. Through the slapping noise, the bouncing of the mattress and the moans and screaming of bliss from the two lovers, both of their loins started to churn until they felt themselves reach a very familiar point.

"Ann, I'm close…!" Gavin groaned as he felt his release draw closer.

"Me too, sugah, Ah'm close, _really _close!" She moaned in reply.

"Do you want me to do it in or out?" He asked.

"Out! Pull out!" She gasped, trying to avoid getting pregnant. Her boyfriend did as requested and pulled out just in time for him to blow his load all over her stomach and breasts. The auburn haired girl moaned as she slowly started licking up the semen all over her before she sucked him clean and smiled and laid down, spreading her ass while in a missionary position.

"Go ahead, drill this ass." She told him in a seductive tone.

"If that is your wish, then who am I to deny?" Gavin grinned as he positioned himself at her back door. "I hope you're ready, 'cause this'll leave your mind broken for a bit." He 'warned' her.

"Ah think Ah can take it." She told him. With that, Gavin shoved his lubed cock into her ass, and he kept destroying it until they both fell unconscious, with Rogue leaking cum out of her back door and sleeping in her boyfriend's arms.

(Elsewhere)

That morning in the office of Emma Frost, she was sitting in front of the couch where she usually had her patients sit, legal notepad and pen in hand.

"So, are you ready to begin?" She asked the person as she looked at them, revealing it to be Marcus Mussolini. "Mr. Mussolini?" She questioned the man in front of her.

"Yeah, I'm ready." The man nodded. "Let's get started. I wanna get my episodes under control." He told her as they began with him explaining everything about his life up until that point.

And Elsewhere at Tabitha Smith's apartment, Ray was standing in front of her in the hall.

"Hey Tabs… I was wondering, could we talk?" He asked as the blonde looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

It looked like things were getting _very _interesting…

**Dragon Emperor0: So… **_**That **_**happened.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yep… At least Gavin finally got all that stress out of his system.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. Plus the romantic subplot between him and Rogue is **_**finally **_**over. And it looks like Emma and Marcus are up to… Something, wonder what that's all about?**

**ThermalsniperN7: Eh, who knows. Maybe they're starting to see each other romantically too? Looks like it might be in its early stages, though.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Maybe… Anyway guys, before we close out this chapter tell us in the reviews: If the X-men were to have their own mutant safe energy drink, what do you think it would be called? Also let us know if we should have an original chapter or two devoted to a certain character or couple. We're open to suggestions.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. Don't hesitate to be creative. That being said, see you guys next time!**


	59. Chapter 59

**Chapter 59: X-Treme Consequences**

In Bayville High, things were buzzing thanks to the Spear Sports skateboarding competition which was supposed to be held to promote their newest energy drink: Power-8. Of course, due to the new mandates, the judges were appointed and hand picked by the SHIELD supervisors of the event to ward off any form to discrimination against possible Mutant participants.

Right now, however, Scott was looking out of a classroom into the warily, looking for someone he's currently avoiding at the moment. Seeing no sign of the person, He walked out with a sigh of relief. As he turned a corner, he bumped into Jean, causing both to let out surprised gasps.

"Scott, what's wrong?" Jean asked.

"It's Kitty." The male teen explained simply in a nervous tone.

"What about her?" The redhead asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She got her driver's permit." The shaded teen replied, causing Jean to go pale.

"Run, run now!" The telepath told him as they bolted. Kitty then rounded the corner looking for them, and then saw Gavin and Rogue who were walking in her direction, the pseudo vampire having his right arm around his girlfriend's waist.

"Quick, let's warn Gavin and Rogue!" Jean urged. Scott nodded as they approached the couple.

"Gavin, Rogue, run!" The brown haired laser shooter urged in a panicked tone, much to their confusion.

"Why?" The horror aficionado asked.

"Kitty's got her driver's permit!" Jean told them, causing the two to stiffen in fear.

"Oh no… Run!" Rogue exclaimed in fear. The four then made a mad dash for their next destinations.

(Later)

In the school parking lot, Gavin was about to give Rogue a ride home when Kurt suddenly teleported on top of the car's hood, startling them.

"Damn it, Kurt! Don't do that!" Gavin scolded the blue boy.

"Hey, have you heard? Kitty's got her learners permit." Kurt told the two.

"Oh, trust me, we know." Gavin groaned.

"She is _not _getting behind this car's wheel." Rogue added.

"She's also been looking for someone who's eighteen with a license." Kurt continued.

"We know." The two interjected in deadpan tones as Kurt got off the hood and Gavin stepped on the gas.

"Professor Xavier might ask one of you to supervise her!" The teleporter called out as they drove away.

"We know!" The couple called back in annoyance as they rolled away.

(Elsewhere)

At the Institute, Xavier was in the process of calling Jean, Scott, Gavin and Devin to his office for something, though they were unsure as to what.

"What is it you need done, Professor?" Devin asked.

"Well Devin, seeing as that you four are currently the only eighteen year olds with licenses, I'm hoping that one of you will help Kitty with driving practice." Xavier explained.

"I'd honestly rather not." Gavin confessed.

"I'd prefer not to die at eighteen, thank you." Jean stated.

"Same." Scott nodded.

"I would like to continue living." Devin declined.

"Okay, what's all this talk about wanting to live? Something we should know about?" Chelsea asked as she and Logan walked into the room.

"Kitty needs someone to help her with driving practice." Gavin told them.

"Oh, sounds dangerous." The scraggly mutant said in an almost teasing manner.

"And here I thought you had more balls, since you've literally stared death in the face and spat at it." Chelsea said, rolling her eyes before turning to Charles. "I'm actually needing something to give me an adrenaline rush, so why don't I go?"

"Not without me, I'm keeping a close eye on you remember?" Logan told her. "Besides, could be fun."

"Okay okay, Logan. Seriously, I keep telling you that I don't need or want to feel like I'm being controlled, so stop babying me." The blonde chided him.

"Oi, I'm trying to protect you, not control you. There's a difference." Logan retorted indignantly.

"Whatever." The Dragoness said, rolling her eyes. "So, where is she?" She asked. Right at that moment, Kitty walked in, and as if on instinct, everyone else but the two older Mutants cleared out.

"See ya later!" Scott told them.

"Just know that you owe us." Jean added.

"Good luck." Added Devin.

"And say your prayers, you'll need 'em." Gavin finished as they all left.

Logan and Chelsea could only blink owlishly in confusion at the Shirakumo twin's words.

"The hell do they mean?" The blonde whispered to her boyfriend, who shrugged, feeling just as clueless.

Oh, how they would find out soon enough…

(Elsewhere)

Evan was currently being cornered with another kid by a group of juniors who were harassing them both, which only got worse when the kid he was with chose to try and use Evan as a bodyguard.

"You want me to fight your fight? No way. I'm outta here." The skateboarder scoffed as he turned to leave, but was then cut off by two of the juniors.

The spiky Mutant deployed his spikes to try and scare them, but instead of the spikes scaring them, it was the *click click* sound of a gun being loaded that scared them. Everyone then turned to see Johan standing there, who had just gotten back from helping supervise the setup for the skateboarding competition.

"You know damn well what this routine is by now, punks. No racism allowed!" He growled with a glare.

"Come on, let's get outta here!" The leader said as they ran away. Johan then glared down at the kid who Evan was with.

"If there's one thing I hate more than racism, it's using others for personal gain." He snapped at the boy. "You make me sick." He added with disdain in his voice. The boy quivered under his gaze before he broke and ran off. Scoffing, Johan turned to Evan. "You okay, Evan?" He asked.

"I'm fine." The boy told him angrily.

"Come on, let's get you home." The eldest Sever sibling told him as he led him home.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was with both Beast and Sampson Marks in the Institute's med bay, and currently he was testing something.

"Okay, now hand me that eye dropper with the Power-8 in it." Gavin said as he put a blood sample from Laura, Peter, and Sampson under a microscope.

"Here." Sampson said as he handed the boy the sample requested. Gavin put a drop on the human and mutate samples first, getting no reaction, but when he put it on the Mutant sample his eyes widened in horror.

"HOLY SHIT!" He yelled.

"What is it, Gavin?!" Beast asked in alarm.

"Power-8 is a fucking Mutant poison!" He replied in horror. "At first I thought I was going crazy when I noticed I kept getting a rash from even touching the stuff, but now? I'm starting to see: this stuff will _kill _you if you're a Mutant."

"What should we do? Spears Sports is holding their skateboarding competition tomorrow." Beast stated. "And Evan was really looking forward to it, too…"

"Screw Spears! This is a biohazard to all Mutants, including Evan. We gotta do something about this, _NOW_!" The pseudo vampire told him.

"I agree. As a doctor, I must insist that we prioritize the safety of the Mutant public." Sampson nodded.

"Then we must report our findings to the Sever siblings at once. They should be able to intervene." Hank agreed.

(Elsewhere)

Evan was now in his room and he finally managed to retract his spikes, but then he gasped in shock when he saw that his back now had spiky and bony plates lining it.

"What the-? What's going on?" He gasped at the sight of the plates.

Meanwhile, Kitty was finally driving back to the Institute after going with Chelsea and Logan, and the X-Van was in horrible shape. There was a wrecked newspaper holder that was dropping out change and there were two signs skewered near the back of it, and the wench on the bumper was broken.

The two older Mutants got out, and both looked traumatized from the experience. Logan even had to help Chelsea _pry _her currently draconic hands from inside the dash and the handle.

"... Logan?" The Dragoness began shakily.

"Yeah…?" Her scraggly boyfriend responded in a shaken tone.

"Never let me be in _any_ car with Kitty at the wheel _ever again!_" She squeaked in fear. "I like an adrenaline rush as much as the next person. Roller coasters, Horror movies, ATV races, you name it. But… Having to ride in the same car with that ditzy _psychopath_, was downright _**terrifying**_!" She added, her hands immediately checking her unborn child. "... Phew, the baby's safe." The blonde sighed in relief before she felt nauseous. "But my lunch isn't!" She said before she started bolting inside.

Kitty then got out. "Man, I can't believe how many reckless drivers there are on the road. Am I right?" She asked Logan, hands on her hips.

'_What the-?! There's the pot calling the motherfucking kettle black! Were you literally unaware of what you were doing?!' _Logan thought in sheer, absolute disbelief.

(The next day)

The next morning everyone was at the Spears Sports skateboarding competition, and currently Johan was explaining to his fellow supervisors of the discovery that the X-Men had discovered about Power-8 and its effects on Mutants.

"Okay, this is alarming. Anyone got any suggestions on what we should do?" One of the supervisors asked.

"My best suggestion is to confiscate all Power-8 drinks until further notice." Another suggested. "I mean, we can't exactly call this thing off right now."

"That's probably our best option right now." The third and final supervisor concluded with a sigh.

"Then I'll have my guys start gathering all of it up. But for now, just focus on making sure everything goes smoothly. I'll handle dealing with Mr. Spears." Johan told them.

"Yes sir." The supervisors nodded. With that done, they all got to work, just as Evan went up for his turn. The blonde was without a doubt doing the best out of all the kids there, however, one in particular was so jealous that he decided to do something about it when Evan finished.

"You want me to what?!" The spiked boy growled.

"You heard me. I want you to forfeit! You used your powers to cheat!" The jealous moron shot back as one of the supervisors came up to them.

"Alright, what's going on?" The man asked, who had Katerina close behind him.

"This guy used his powers to cheat! He doesn't deserve to be in this competition!" The boy growled.

"Kid, you're an idiot. I know what his powers are, and they can't be used to do stuff like that. You just can't handle being outdone." The eldritch woman told the skateboarder with a frown, throwing the truth in his face.

"I suggest you drop this, or it'll be you who gets disqualified." The supervisor added.

"Man, you idiots are all biased in favor of those freaks. I'm outta here." The jealous boy frowned before leaving.

"No, we're just not a bunch of racist pricks like you!" Katerina called after him. "You okay, Evan?" She asked.

"I'll be alright. Thanks for that." The boy nodded in gratitude. "I'm gonna go get something to drink." He said as he walked off. But as he picked up a bottle of Power-8 that hadn't been confiscated yet, someone bumped into him, causing it to drop out of his hands.

"Poison." He heard the person say.

"What the hell?" The boy said as he glared back at the person. "... Jerk." He said before he got another bottle before the supervisors could get to it, and started to open it, but not before Johan saw him.

"Evan, stop! Don't drink that!" He called as he dashed over to him. But unfortunately, he was too late, the skateboarding loving boy already drank a quarter of the bottle. Suddenly, he groaned and his vision began to swim before he accidentally sent out several spikes from his body at high speed. Johan ducked under a few while some of them hit the legs of the billboard,causing it to start to fall on the bleachers. The audience started to panic as it leaned forward, but Ororo was quick to make a strong wind gust to keep it from falling while Bobby used his powers to fix the damage.

Johan ran over to Evan and grabbed him as the boy started to sweat. "Get the paramedics! This boy's been poisoned!" He barked. Though as the men did so, the same person from before, a woman with an eyepatch, started walking towards him. On impulse, he drew his Smith and Wesson pistol and pointed it at her.

"One more step, and you're dead." He told her.

"Whoa whoa, easy!" The woman said as she held her arms up placatingly. "I'm just here to take him to some people that know how to help with Power-8's effects on mutants." She told him, though the eldest Sever sibling didn't look convinced.

"I don't hate Mutants, but I don't trust you. How do I know you're telling the truth?" He questioned with narrowed eyes.

"Because she's a member of the Morelocks." They heard Gavin say as he walked up to them with Ray in tow. He also had a small girl with rather large hands by the back of her shirt collar. "_This, _little mink is one of them too. She tried to paralyze me and Ray when we tried to get to Evan. And it really pisses me off." He added as he continued to hold her up.

"Seriously?" Johan groaned before turning to the eyepatch wearing woman of the group. "Do you have no faith in the people he knows? What you tried to do is, for all intents and purposes, kidnapping. We're trying to _help _Evan!" He told her with a glare.

"Some help. Why didn't you warn him before he came here so he'd know not to drink the stuff?" She asked.

"Because I only just found out today." Johan stated as Gavin threw the little girl down and she ran back to the older woman.

"Alright." The pseudo vampire said as he cracked his knuckles. "I'm going to give you 'till the count of five to beat it before things get ugly. Five…" He said as his hand slowly lowered to his two guns.

The woman sighed, knowing they had to leave now. "Fine. You win. We'll go." She conceded as she and the other Morelocks that were apparently hiding nearby left.

"Come on, let's get Evan to the hospital." The SHIELD agent said as he picked the boy up.

"You guys go." Gavin told them as he watched the Morelocks leave. "I'll… Catch up with you guys later." He said as he turned himself into smoke and started following them.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was now in his costume with both Laura and Peter with him as they watched the Morelocks going down into the sewers.

"Why are they going in the sewers? With the Mutants Equal Rights act in effect, they should be able to do stuff topside." Peter wondered as he scratched his head.

"Probably got exposed to too much discrimination beforehand, so they've opted to hide underground to get away from it all." Gavin mused.

"In any case, we'll need to get whatever kind of medicine they may have for Evan. Though I just hope we won't have to get it by force." Laura nodded.

"Same." The pseudo vampire agreed as they began entering the sewer behind their quarry. The green eyed feral mutant couldn't help but pinch her nose from how bad the sewers smelled, especially with her enhanced nose.

"God, how do they stand this _smell_?!" She gagged, pinching her nose. The girl was currently in her X-Men trainee outfit, which she really hoped she wouldn't have to wash when this was over.

"Ugh, feel your pain, Laura. I feel your pain." Peter said as he pinched his nose.

"Quit your bellyaching!" Gavin barked as he had them duck behind a wall as the eyepatched woman from earlier came into view. She had heard them talking, and had certainly heard Gavin's bark. Taking off her eyepatch, she looked around and narrowed her eyes when she looked in their direction.

"I can see in the dark, you know." She called out to them.

"Funny, I don't remember asking." Gavin said as the three stepped into view. "We're here for that medicine you mentioned. Give it to us and we'll be out of your hair." He told them, wanting to first be diplomatic before he did anything else.

"No offense, but it's kinda hard to do that after what happened today." The woman said as she folded her arms.

"Oh, so it's _our _fault that you tried to kidnap our friend?" Laura stated, arms crossed. "Wow, you guys have a _lot _of nerve."

"Look, we can't do much to help Evan without that medicine. Please, just give us a few samples to give to him and have mass produced to help other potential victims." Peter requested.

The woman seemed to be surprised when she saw the spider themed hero. "You're a long ways away from the big apple, aren't you Spider Man?" She asked.

"Let's just say that a few… 'events' caused me to leave in order to get away from the pain and leave it at that." Peter explained shortly with a wince. Laura gave him a sad look as she squeezed his hand to comfort him.

"Uh, we never got your name." Gavin noted, having forgotten that small detail.

"Callisto." She told them. "Follow me." She said as she led them into the hideout. When they got there, they saw a bunch of Mutants all over where they made their little home.

"All of you just live down here?" Gavin asked with a frown.

"The world isn't exactly kind to Mutants who look like us." Callisto told him.

"You guys do know that the Mutants Equal Rights act was passed for that exact reason, right?" Laura questioned.

"True though that may be, we were exposed to too much of the human race's dark side beforehand. It's instinct for us to try and get away from it at this point." The woman sighed.

"Called it." Gavin piped in.

"If some of you guys tested the waters now, so to speak, would you consider living on the surface again?" Peter asked.

"No idea. It'd have to be up to the others honestly." Callisto shrugged.

"Fair enough, I guess. Anyway, the medicine?" Gavin shrugged before getting down to business.

"Caliban!" The woman called, prompting a pale and lanky bald Mutant with pointy ears to walk up to them. He was dressed in very dingy clothes.

"Careful, this guy can sense other Mutants, and he's terrified of strong ones." Laura whispered, having heard about this particular man from Ray.

"Noted." Gavin whispered back.

Caliban looked at the three and seemed to shrink away when he neared Gavin before standing next to Callisto.

"What is it, Callisto?" He asked in a hissing voice.

"They're here for the medicine. Their friend has been poisoned by Power-8 and needs it." The woman replied.

"Of course. I will go get some, though I feel like they may want some extra ones for reasons I don't know." He replied before walking off to get what they came for.

"Thank you." Gavin told Callisto.

"Don't thank me yet." The woman told him. "Listen, I know that this may be asking a bit too much, given our first impressions of each other. But… We could really use the X-Men's help in destroying Spear's vats of Power-8."

"Why?" Peter asked. "I mean, besides the obvious." He clarified.

"Because Power-8 is being dumped into the sewers. It's poisoning everyone down here." Callisto replied, alarming them.

"Okay… We probably can't help you that way, but we certainly can't blame you for asking." Laura said with wide eyes. "I can definitely say this: When Johan gets wind of this, he'll likely force Spears to shut down Power-8 production permanently." She added.

"Be that as it may." Gavin said as he unsheathed his sword. "I think I'd prefer to see it go down personally." He added as he gripped his weapon.

(Elsewhere)

About an hour later at the Institute, Bast and Dr. Marks were in the middle of giving Evan the antidote that the Morelocks crafted, and as if by some god given miracle, it worked.

"The antidote worked. Good. Now we can mass produce it." Sampson said.

"I'll give the good news to Storm. She'll be relieved to hear this." Bast said as she walked out.

"Um, guys? Where's Gavin?" Rogue asked as she walked in. "His car is gone, and Ah can't find him anywhere." She added.

"Where could he have gone?" The Marks patriarch asked.

(Elsewhere)

At the Spears Sports Power-8 main manufacturing plant, the Morelocks and Gavin were there in the dead of night, ready to wreck the place.

Gavin unsheathed Bloodfallen before he slashed at the fence over a hundred times in the blink of an eye and started to sheathe it again. "A hundred Godspeed slashes." He said as he sheathed the sword with a click, which caused the fence to fall to pieces.

"... Wow. That's fast." Callisto commented with her lone eye wide.

"Thank you. Now come on. Let's get this done." The swordsman said as he walked into the production plant. As they did, they quickly made sure to destroy everything in sight, and of course not hurt any of the guards.

"The main vats are in here." One of the Morelocks, who had X-Ray vision, said.

"Anyone ever tell you that your powers would be perfect for rescue? Or seeing tumors, for that matter?" Gavin asked him as he sliced apart the wall.

"No, but thank you for saying that." The Morelock replied with a nod.

"Don't mention it." The boy shrugged as he cracked his knuckles. "Now, in the immortal words of Richard Branson: Let's do it." He told his new allies as they charged into the room.

Gavin disabled the cameras so they wouldn't be spotted. Then they all climbed to the top of the vats and began pouring some solution into the Power-8 to effectively destroy the liquid. As they were doing it, though, some guards they had missed barged in and caught them in the act.

"FREEZE!" They yelled before both of them got shot in the shoulders by Gavin as he dropped on them.

"Alright, quick question you two: how much is Spears Sports paying you to look the other way while he pours this toxic shit into the sewers and endangers the lives of thousands of innocent Mutants?" He asked them, boots on their backs.

"Wait, he's been doing _what?!_" The one under his right boot asked, instantly cluing Gavin in that he wasn't aware of what was happening.

"Shady business is definitely shady here." The pseudo vampire sighed. "Hey guys! Ya might wanna hurry, I'm starting to hear police sirens about five minutes from here and closing fast!" He urged.

"We're moving as fast as we can!" Callisto called back.

Though as they continued to sabotage the room, someone in the main control room somehow activated a manual failsafe and started emptying all the toxic liquid that was left straight into the sewers, and it was enough to be considered a small flood.

"RUN!" Gavin yelled as they bolted for the storm drain. After a bit of trying to escape the mini flood, they unfortunately came to a dead end. "... Fuck me sideways." He cursed. As it seemed like it would be the end of all of them, a blast of cosmic energy came straight towards the flood as Rogue floated down to them, which was followed by Jean and Storm as well.

Then several familiar looking spikes were shot onto the wall behind them for them to climb on. "Come on! Climb up!" Evan told them, his face covered in spikes now.

The Morelocks and Gavin didn't waste a second and began to climb as fast as they could while Gavin flew up in his smoke form. Once everyone was out of harm's way, Rogue and Jean stopped holding the flood back and came back up.

"Thanks guys, you came just in the nick of time. A few seconds later and we woulda been-" Gavin started to say before…

_*SMACK!* _

He was yet again slapped by his girlfriend.

"That was for doing something stupid again!" She growled.

"Is this gonna be a regular thing with you, Anna? Because-!" He started to say before she shut him up by kissing him.

"That was for saving lives." She finished with a smile. Gavin looked at her a little dazed before grinning like a fool.

"Well… I could get used to it." He said with the same grin still on his face.

"Get a room, you two!" Callisto called out in a teasing manner, getting laughs from the rest of the Morelocks and blushes from the couple in question.

"Spears is gonna have hell to pay when this is over." Johan said as he stepped forward. "Because I'm not gonna stop until this company is in the ground." He added before turning to Callisto. "I also wanted to apologize to you, Callisto. I misjudged you, and the Morelocks."

Callisto looked surprised for a moment before she smiled. "Apology accepted. And we're trusting you to put an end to Power-8. Don't let us down." She told him. The older Sever sibling chuckled.

"Trust me, I take the safety of Mutants _very _seriously." He replied. "And, after telling my superiors at SHIELD about you guys, we've actually decided to set up a series of shelters for homeless Mutants like yourselves to help you get back on your feet until we can help you find some good jobs." He added. "If you'd like to stay there that is."

The Morelocks looked at him with surprised expressions before they looked at one another, having a silent conversation amongst themselves. After a moment, Callisto spoke again.

"We'll take you up on that offer. It'll be nice to not have to worry about smelling like sewage all the damn time. The idea of actually putting our powers to good use sounds nice, too." She said. Johan smiled and beckoned them to follow him.

"Then come on, I'll show you where the shelter's being built." He told them as they all left.

"Ya know, you don't look so bad with the spikes Evan, just sayin." Gavin told his skateboarding friend.

"Glad to know I actually look cool with 'em." He chuckled as they went back to the Institute.

(Later)

Gavin was sitting at his desk while doing some chemistry equations and looking at each individual chemical and ingredient of Power-8 closely via microscope, when he finally found what he was looking for.

"In the words of Archamites when he found the theory of displacement…" He said as he dropped a sample of his new green soda-like liquid on a Mutant tissue sample and saw that it had no adverse effects on it, rather it energized them. "Eureka." He said in satisfaction.

"What is it?" Rogue asked as she came up behind him and hugged his neck.

"I just created my own Mutant safe energy drink." He replied with a grin as he turned around and kissed her. "I think I'll call it: X-Tremeade… Yeah, I like that." He nodded as he started working on bottle designs.

But unbeknownst to them, two people were watching Logan, Chelsea and Laura while they were in the living room, the scraggly Mutant holding his girlfriend and daughter protectively on the couch.

"Well, hello there, _father._" One of the figures who had a long haired mohawk said as he looked at the three through a pair of binoculars.

Bad omens were starting to show… The past was coming back to bite, with a vengeance.

**Dragon Emperor0: Uh oh, this does not look good. Daken's come to town.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, and he's brought some company with him. Who could that be?**

**Dragon Emperor0: No idea… On the bright side though, looks like Evan and the Morelocks aren't gonna get screwed over this time… Hopefully.**

**ThermalsniperN7: If someone tries anything against them, we all know what'll happen. Anyway, it's close to two in the morning on my end, so I'm gonna go to sleep.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Me too. See you guys next week!**


	60. Chapter 60

**Chapter 60: Mess with my baby, you mess with hell.**

Exactly three months had passed since the Morlocks had taken down Spear Sports with the help of the X-men and SHIELD, as well as Gavin's discovery of a non-toxic energy drink that could replace Power-8 and be beneficial for both parties. The drink in question, which he dubbed: "X-Tremeade" was tested and approved by both the residents of the Institute, the Mutant populace at large and the teens at Bayville high. With this positive feedback, Gavin filed for a patent and trademark, and in mere weeks, his small business venture (which was backed by none other than their friend Warren aka Angel) was booming.

Most of the profits ended up going to Mutant charities and efforts to open more schools like the Institute all over the US and the world, but Gavin still made enough to make a personal profit as well. Life was looking good so far.

However, life also rarely goes that well for very long… Which unfortunately became the case for the resident power couple of Chelsea Marks and Logan Howlett. The blonde was now six months into her pregnancy and the mood swings had worsened, which caused an influx of fights between them, making the lives of both stressful.

On top of that, through no fault of his, Logan had become even more protective of her than he had been previously because of his primal instincts and his obvious and deep bond of love to his blonde partner. This led to him constantly making sure she didn't over exert herself, didn't drink too much alcohol, didn't get too overly stressed, made sure her cravings were taken care of, and constantly kept her away from danger or harm, healing factor or not.

And although his intentions came from a genuine and loving place, they did not get the desired outcome of gratitude from said Dragoness. Rather, it caused her to become even _more _angry and _more _irritated with him because of her hatred of being controlled and being told what to do. This, combined with her increasing insecurity about parenthood in general, made for a very toxic phase in their relationship. But then again, what couple hasn't had a chapter like that in their lives?

Which brings us to now. Currently, Logan and Chelsea had gotten into another fight and both had accidentally scared Laura off with the constant yelling… Which rarely happened since Laura is a _very _hard girl to scare, so it tells you how bad this fight really was.

"That's _IT_! I've had it up to _here_, Logan!" Chelsea yelled, holding a hand up above her head indicating how mad she was. "You've been doing nothing but _badgering _me and watching me like a goddamn _hawk _for the past five months! And I've had _enough_!" She yelled, stomping her foot. "I can't drink as much as I used to anymore, I can't fight my own fights anymore, hell I can't even _exercise _like I used because of you and this baby!" She continued while pointing at her very much swollen belly.

"Hey! I'm trying to protect you here, not control you, dammit!" Logan yelled back. "I'm trying to do my damndest to be a good husband and father, and I literally take no chances just so I can keep you and the baby safe!" He continued yelling. "In case you've forgotten, _I'M STILL LEARNING_! None of this is easy, and it's never going to be!" He stated furiously.

The husband part caught Chelsea off guard, but right now she was too pissed off to think about how good that made her feel. Regaining her angered expression, she retorted. "Well _excuse ME_ for being mad because, in case _you've _forgotten, _IT HASN'T BEEN A CAKEWALK FOR ME EITHER, 'HUSBAND'_!" She yelled that last part without much thought, she was going to yell 'bastard' but instead she yelled that out of impulse, old habits, she guessed.

"And I'm trying to avoid repeating the same mistake I made numerous times! I refuse to leave anyone I care about behind, _AND I INTEND TO FUCKING SHOW IT, 'WIFE'_!" Logan yelled, surprising himself since he was going to say bitch, but changed it subconsciously. Though he just shook it off.

The two kept glaring at each other as they tried to regain their breath, and as they did, both of them let what they had just called each other sink in. Though she wouldn't admit it to his face right now, Chelsea really liked it when Logan called her his wife. And likewise Logan was feeling a large pocket of Alpha Male-like pride swell in his chest when he heard the mighty Dragoness call him her husband, however both were not about to revel in these feelings with each other together at the present moment due to how ticked off they still were at one another. So with a couple of heavy sighs, they looked at each other again.

"I'm gonna go out to cool down." The blonde told her scraggly other half. Logan said nothing as he kept trying to get his breath back while she walked out. A moment later, Laura came in and looked around warily.

"Is it safe for me to be in here again?" She asked cautiously. Logan looked at her and his gaze and expression softened as he nodded.

"Yeah, come here." He told her. The girl smiled as she went to him and hugged him tightly, ever since the girls (Kitty, Jean, Rogue, Jubilee Chelsea and Laura) had entered his life the man had become much warmer and overall a much kinder person than he was before. His frequent habit of giving hugs to his biological and surrogate daughters being a sizable portion of evidence to support this.

Speaking of, the other girls were soon to enter the room as well, with Jean leading the group. "Hey Logan, you wanna talk about what just happened? That fight seemed pretty rough." The redhead questioned.

"Not right now. It's still fresh." He declined with a sigh, not wanting to talk about it with how recent it was.

"Well at least let us help you calm down until you are ready." Jubilee said as they all joined Laura in a group hug with their shared father figure. They stayed like this for a good fifteen minutes before Laura pulled out of the hug.

"I'll go try and find Chelsea, see you guys later." She told them as she left to go find her stepmom.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was in the middle of looking over the latest in pour of profits from the past few months of X-Tremeade's sales and was also looking over some proposals for mass production, future factories, and even deals with big grocery retailers. Needless to say, he was neck deep in work right now.

"I could really use some help right now." He groaned as he tried to fight off an oncoming migraine while Damian played with his stuffed tiger in his lap.

Right at that moment, Rogue walked in with a glass of water for him. "Hey, hon. Still regretting taking up this business because of the paperwork?" She asked jokingly as she set the glass down on his desk.

"Yes…" The pseudo vampire sighed as he took a sip of water. "Everything okay down there? I heard a lot of yelling. Nearly scared both me and Damian to death."

"Another fight between Logan and Chelsea." The Southern Belle sighed. "Those dragon hormones are making her mood swings worse than a normal human's. It's nice to see that they're still together in spite of that." She added.

"Just goes to show how strong their bond is, I guess." The pseudo vampire shrugged before sighing. "I just wish that Chelsea would just get over her complex about being a mom already. Because if you ask me, that more than anything is causing her to lash out." He added. "I got a bad feeling that if she doesn't get over it soon, something bad is gonna happen."

"Ah know. Ah just hope she gets over it fast." Rogue nodded.

(Elsewhere)

Chelsea was in the middle of taking a walk through town and decided to stop at the local mechanic shop to visit Romano, but when she did, she found herself with widened eyes filled with surprise.

Standing in front of a blue Chevy Camero was a man in a blue jumpsuit who was around her age. He had massive shoulders and arms, and towered above everyone at around 6'7", but for the most part is a gentle giant. He has brown hair styled into a short fohawk, a short stubble beard, relatively tanned skin, and blue-green eyes. The only thing preventing him from looking like an absolute god was the absence of a left leg below the knee.

This was someone the blonde recognized almost immediately. "... Bronson?" She said in a tone of voice that was almost hollow with surprise. Said man turned around and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw Chelsea standing there.

This was Bronson Calebs. Chelsea met him at a diner she was waitressing at for some extra cash a couple months after she and the others broke up after Pele's death, in a small town outside of Vegas.

He was fairly flirtatious with her, which was a nice change for her. She had been suffering from mild depression for a while and his joking and know-it-all attitude helped her come out of her shell. He was a regular at the restaurant she was working at, and as such they began to know each other quite well because they saw each other so often.

They eventually got together after a few months of playful flirting and moved in together a few months in, along with Bronson's dog Dakota. Throughout their relationship, Chelsea never told him about or showed him her mutation, until one night they were cornered by some HYDRA agents who were hunting Chelsea.

And as such, she was forced to use her powers and it accidentally outed her as a mutant, and although it led to a brief but very intense argument between the two, he agreed to try and make things work out long distance but after a few years they ended up losing touch and hadn't reconnected since…. Well until now at least.

"Chelsea?" He asked in a shocked tone. The two then approached each other before they both hugged. "I haven't heard from you in years! How've you been? Those guys still chasing you?" He asked as they pulled away.

"No. They've been… Well, let's just say that they've been dealt with for a long time now." The blonde replied with a grin.

Bronson let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." He said before looking up at a clock on the wall. "Hey, it's my break right now, you wanna go to a cafe down the road so we can catch up?" He asked.

"Eh, why not?" The dragoness shrugged. "Just be ready. There's been a huge heap of developments over the last few years." She told him. Bronson just nodded in affirmative.

Once the arrived at the local coffee shop, Chelsea started recollecting all the events leading from when they parted ways, to when she joined the X-Men, to the present… and the one legged soldier almost did a spit take with his coffee when the blonde had explained that the reason why she was currently more stomach than anything else was because she was pregnant… and that she and the father of said embryo had gotten married last month.

"... Damn… At first I thought you had just let yourself go but… Wow, things really have changed, haven't they?" The ex-soldier joked as he sighed.

"Hey." She snapped warningly before sighing as well. "Yeah… I really do love Logan, but… He's been really over protective of me lately. We just had a big fight about it and, I know that he's just trying to do right by me and the baby while trying not to control me, but… I just really can't get past how I'm feeling about it all." The Dragoness sighed.

"You still have that complex about having kids, don't you?" Bronson questioned, knowing _exactly_ what she was getting at.

"I can't help it, okay? I'm scared." The blond adrenaline junkie sighed. Even if she had people willing to support her, she still felt that twinge of fear in her mind.

"Hey, easy, I'm not judging you." The man told him with his hands raised defensively. "You have every right to be scared. What with the way your parents were like, what HYDRA put you through, _everything_." He added firmly. "Look, all I'm sayin is that if you keep going on like this, I think that it could go… well, sideways." He said as understandingly as possible.

"I know, but… Getting over that isn't easy. It's supposed to take time." The blonde sighed.

"Oh I know, I mean you do remember that I had a complex about loud noises and explosions ever since my leg was blown off, right?" Bronson nodded.

"I remember you screaming like a little girl whenever you heard an alarm clock go off." Chelsea shot back jokingly with a chuckle.

"Ha ha, very funny." He said sarcastically.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" A new voice asked from beside the two's table. Both of them turned around and saw Laura standing there, looking very confused. "Who… Who is this guy?" She asked, her mind almost immediately going to the worst possible conclusion that she could make of this situation.

'_Is she… Cheating on Logan?!' _She thought in horror.

"Oh, this is my ex, Branon. Don't worry, we're just catching up." Chelsea replied, unknowingly calming her thoughts.

"So I take it she's the stepdaughter you mentioned?" Bronson asked as Laura sat down with them in the booth seat next to Chelsea.

"Yeah… Wait, Laura did you seriously just call me mom just now?" The Dragoness asked her stepdaughter when she noticed what she was called.

"Well, you pretty much are my mom, so why not start calling you that?" The mini Wolverine asked with a shrug.

"... You know, I think I can get used to that." The green eyed mutant smiled as she hugged the girl warmly. Bronson couldn't help but smile at the scene before him, glad to see that his old flame was happy with her new family.

(Elsewhere)

Sabertooth and Daken were currently walking down the streets of Bayville while the hulking feral mutant tracked the scents of both Laura and Chelsea.

"We find those two bitches, we find Logan." Sabertooth snarled with a chuckle. "Can't wait to have that little girl _squealing _in my claws right before I kill her."

"I'm more interested in the woman. Once I get my hands on her…" Daken said darkly as he deployed his claws, two in his knuckles and one in his wrist. "I'm going to carve that unborn sibling of mine from her womb and feed it to my dogs after I strangle it with its own umbilical cord, right before I stop _her _from healing and feeding her to the sharks!"

"Heh, I like your style." The tiger like man commented with a feral smirk, finding Daken's savagery impressive. With that planned, they continued their search.

(Elsewhere)

About an hour had passed back at the Institute and Logan had finally managed to calm down well enough to be able to talk to the rest of the girls about the fight he had with Chelsea… And ask for advice on how he should try and treat her better.

"Well, you could try easing off on the helicopter spousing a bit." Jubilee shrugged.

"Yeah, you were overdoing it a little." Jean nodded.

"I really was, wasn't I?" Logan sighed.

"Yeah, you kinda were." Rogue nodded.

"Hey! At least he, like, had good intentions for it!" Kitty snapped in defense of the scraggly Mutant.

"Yeah, but it was a bit unnecessary in some cases." Jubilee replied.

"Believe me, I know now… God what a mess." He sighed in exasperation. As he said this, his phone rang. "Hello?" He said as he answered it.

"_Logan! I know you may not wanna be near me right now, but I need your help!_" The panicked voice of Chelsea said at the other end.

"What's going on?" He asked, going protective upon hearing her panicked voice.

"_It's Sabertooth! He's after me and Laura along with some guy with a black mohawk and three bone claws!"_ She replied, causing Logan's eyes to widen in alarm.

"Chels, that's Daken! Grab Laura and run, NOW!" He urged.

"_Normally I'd be way ahead of you, but a friend of mine, Bronson Calebs is getting chased by Sabertooth right now! The idiot decided to be a war hero again and now I'm scared that he's gonna get killed!" _Chelsea told him.

"I'll ask about him later. Where are you and where is he?" He asked, the girls listening in with alarmed looks.

"_He's leading Sabertooth to the scrapyard across from where he and Romano work. And I'm trying my __**damnedest **__to run to the Institute without making myself hurt the baby or lose Laura. The kid may fight like a goddamn demon but she's still an inexperienced kid!" _The blonde explained.

"I'll get everyone together. Hell's gonna be paid in full when we're done with those two!" Logan growled furiously.

"_Okay, move fast! I'm getting tired." _Chelsea panted tiredly before ending the call. Logan then turned to the girls.

"Get everyone, we need to move, _now_!" He told them.

(Meanwhile)

Chelsea stood with her arms stretched out and in a firm stance, her maternity shirt wet from her perspiration as she breathed heavily, her hair a frizzy mess. She was standing between Daken and Laura, both of the clawed Mutants having their natural weapons deployed, and the pregnant woman in between them had her eyes turn draconic and her scales start to slowly appear.

"I'm gonna make you regret coming after us, you fuck!" She growled, trying to sound threatening.

"And I'm going to enjoy strangling you and that fetus with my bare hands until your necks snap." Daken grinned. "I can't wait to see the look of _despair _on that bastard's face when he sees all three of you dead!"

"Like hell!" Laura shouted angrily as she deployed her claws, but didn't leave Chelsea's side.

But Chelsea just stared at him, his words slowly taking hold as images of her, Laura and her baby lying mutilated on the ground, organs and blood everywhere. This thought triggered something in her, something she couldn't quite explain, but knew for certain was her instincts. It was telling her to _kill _this fool, and leave his corpse as a warning for anyone who would dare attack her or her young.

"...So, Daken, you wanna mess with me, huh…?" She said as she slowly started to change, causing Daken to look at her in confusion. "That's fine, you can mess with me, threaten me, or even hurt me. I don't care." She added as she started to become more and more draconic by the second. "But if you even _think _I'm gonna let you hurt _my __**babies**_ you've got another thing coming." She snapped as she finally became a full on dragon.

'_Because I'm just like a momma T-Rex, we share the same emotion that's only found in us females: 'You mess with my babies, you're messing with __**HELL**__!' _She thought angrily as she roared at Daken, which distracted him long enough for Laura to unleash a frenzy of slashes on him before kick stabbing him with her foot claw in the chest and slinging him into a dumpster before jumping back behind her stepmother again as the mohawked teen got back up.

"I'm going to make you suffer for that!" Daken roared angrily as he lept at them... Only to be _slammed _into an adjacent wall by Chelsea's massive tail and then stomped on by her large foot.

"You were saying?" Laura couldn't help but comment smugly. As the tattooed Mutant got back up again, Laura backflip kicked him in the chin and then Chelsea swatted him with her left claw into another wall, causing him to drop to his knees and then fall face first to the ground.

The Dragoness, fueled by pure rage and her maternal instincts, stomped on him multiple times and when he tried to out flank her with his agility, she swatted him aside with her skull, causing him to drop to the ground. But in the process of doing so she slammed her head so hard into a nearby wall that it caused her to become dazed.

Shaking it off, the red scaled dragon woman looked at the currently barely conscious aggressor before her. Wanting to make sure he _stayed _down, Chelsea then leaned down and then took him into her maw and used every ounce of her jaw's 8,000 pounds per square inch bite force to crush the son of Wolverine's skeleton in her jaws.

She felt him thrash around and was pretty sure he was screaming in agony, too. When he was thoroughly dead, she let him fall out of her blood stained mouth before using her massive claws to tear into what was left, and finish him, before letting out a triumphant roar.

(Elsewhere)

At the Bayville scrapyard, Bronson was now unfortunately cornered and forced to engage in hand to hand combat with Sabertooth. And although he was a simple human with no powers, he still had a body that could rival many of the heroes in the universe, so he was able to keep up with the brute.

"You think I'm gonna go down that easily?! You got another thing coming!" Bronson exclaimed as he dodged a blow which narrowly missed the side of his head and caused Sabertooth's giant hand to get stuck in a car's door.

"Goddamn it, stay still!" The Mutant roared.

"And let you hit me? Fuck that!" The veteran retorted. With an angry growl, the giant blonde swung his arm out and busted it out of the car before using it to sweep Bronson's prosthetic leg out from under him and caused him to fall on his back.

"And now, you're _dead_!" Creed yelled as he lunged at the downed army man. But before he could, a familiar red laser blast knocked him away.

"Not today, tuna breath!" Scott yelled as he and the rest of the X-Men ran up to the man on the ground and helped him up.

"You okay?" Gavin asked the veteran as he helped him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm more worried about Chelsea and Laura right now, though." Bronson replied.

"Where are they?" Logan asked angrily as he grabbed the man by his collar. "I swear if they're hurt in any way I'm gonna-!"

"Logan! Over here!" Laura's voice called, causing him to snap his head in her direction. They were all relieved to see that she was okay, but that soon turned to worry when they saw that Chelsea was with her and that the woman was still in her dragon form.

"Why is Chelsea in her dragon form?" He asked warily.

"I'm not entirely sure, but when she was dealing with Daken, she slammed her head into a wall and was dazed for a bit." The girl explained, feeling worried about her stepmom. "Daken's dead, by the way." She added.

Everyone was promptly relieved at that but they were also worried about Chelsea's head injury. "Let's get her back to the Institute." Beast told them.

(Later)

Back at the Institute, in the danger room, Beast, Bast and Sampson Marks were currently working on determining what was wrong with Chelsea. The blue furred Mutant shining a light in her draconic eyes as she leaned down to him.

"Yeah, she's got a concussion alright." Beast said in a deflated tone.

"How bad is it?" Logan asked in concern.

"It's affected her ability to transform and now she's stuck as a dragon until she recovers. To make matters worse, we have no idea how long that's gonna take." Bast sighed in defeat.

"And if my experience with Mutants with animalistic transformation powers like hers has taught me anything, the longer she stays in this form, the more animalistic she'll become." Sampson added. "So it's a race against time now."

Chelsea's eyes widened at this before she let out a worried whimper which Jean was able to understand.

"She says, what about the baby? How will it be affected?" Jean asked for Chelsea.

The three medical specialists started talking amongst themselves for a couple minutes before Sampson decided to speak.

"It might survive, though it will have to be born the same way a dragon's hatchling is born: from an egg." He said.

"Huh?" Everyone said in confusion.

"You see everyone. If she were to be in her dragon form for most the remaining duration of her pregnancy, it would most likely cause the fetus to be encased in an egg, probably prolonging development. Perhaps because of this more animal-like progression, the child would be more animal-like in nature, more feral. Or I suppose in this baby's case, it would lead to it popping out of the egg as a dragon, before being able to turn into a human." Beast explained further, trying to elaborate.

"... That is going to be the weirdest beginning to a life ever. Of all time." Gavin commented.

This news caused Chelsea to let out a wail of despair as she started slamming her head on the floor. Her thoughts being projected to the others by the Jean and the Prof.

'_I am so STUPID! I knew I was never meant to be a mom! I knew I'd be a bad parent! My baby is gonna be born like some lizard because of something __**I **__did! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!' _She wailed over and over again while slamming her head on the metallic floor.

'_Chelsea, stop! None of this is your fault!' _Jean said mentally.

'_She's right! You had no idea this situation would happen!' _Xavier added.

"Do you even realize how much of a dumbass you sound like right now?" Gavin questioned her, which caused the Dragoness to turn towards him. "Chelsea, you went dragon on an instinct to _protect _both Laura and the baby. Your first reaction was to stand your ground and _annihilate _those who'd attack your children. You were acting on _maternal instinct_! That's something only good mom's have!" He added. "How can you not be a good mom if you have instincts like that?"

"I have to agree with him there, dear. You certainly have impeccable instincts." Sampson nodded.

Their words made Chelsea look down in thought. As she thought, realization set in. She _was _acting on maternal instincts and made sure Daken paid for his mistake. She made sure he would never do it again, and she made sure her children would live. Turning to Gavin, she gave him a happy lick, which actually lifted him off the ground and left him covered in dragon drool.

"EW! Dammit, Chels! Did you have to cover me in dragon slobber?!" He cried out from his spot on the ground, causing everyone to burst out laughing.

"Hey, can I get a moment alone with Chels please? There's something I need to talk to her about." Logan requested with a chuckle at Gavin's predicament.

Everyone nodded and then left the two alone, and Logan took a deep breath before sighing and turning to the woman he practically considered to be his wife.

"Chels, Scales, I… You know I'm not good with this kinda stuff but, I just want you to know I'm sorry for being so overbearing lately. I'm sorry about yelling at you and… I'm sorry for trying to control you, I didn't mean to." He told her sincerely.

Chelsea let out an indignant huff and looked away for a minute or two. "I'm serious, Chels. I really am sorry." He repeated.

The Dragoness slowly turned to look at him again before her gaze softened and she gave a gentle rumble of understanding and pulled him to her chest, trying to hug him, but he stopped her.

"I'm not finished." The scraggly Mutant told her as he took her by her red horns and looked her in the eye. "I know that you're still scared about being a parent, one good talk isn't just gonna erase it, we both know that. But I'm glad that you realize that _this _wasn't your fault." He told her sternly. "I know it's gonna take time for you to get over this complex of yours, but just know that you ain't gotta do it alone, we're all here for you. _I'm _here for you, and I always will be."

He then pressed his forehead hard against her large reptilian one. "Cuz god almighty, I love you more than I've ever loved a woman in a really long time, Chelsea. I really do." He declared resolutely.

His words made Chelsea let out an affectionate rumble as she used one of her large claws to hold him in that spot to hug him. It looked like these two patched things up… Now all that was left to do was fix this pickle they were in.

(Later)

Logan was currently at Hogan's Roadside Bar with Marcus, Johan, Romano and Bronson, trying to calm his nerves after what just happened while also interrogating the veteran in a semi-friendly manner about his past relationship with his 'wife'.

"So, you two met after she separated with the rest of us?" Marcus asked while drinking some beer.

"Yeah. She told me that she was on the run from HYDRA at the time. We got into a fight one day before we calmed down enough to agree to a long distance relationship. We lost contact a while after that." Bronson explained.

"Yeah, long distance relationships can be tough to maintain." Romano commented.

"Tell me about it." Johan sighed.

"Hmph." Logan grumbled as he sipped his own beer.

"You're not still mad at me for that one kiss I had with Chelsea, are you Logan?" Marcus asked.

"Or jealous of me for that matter?" Bronson added.

Logan was silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts before he spoke.

"I'm not mad at you Marcus since you and scales were just testing the waters, and I'm not jealous of you either, peg leg, since you seem to know your limits with relationship with Chels." He stated while giving Bronson a nickname.

"... Peg leg? Really?" Said man deadpanned.

"You'll get used to it." Romano told him. "Just ignore it."

"Watch it, nightlight." Wolverine warned.

"Well, he's not exactly wrong." Johan shrugged as he sipped his whiskey. "I mean, he calls me 'cyborg' at times." He added.

"Great…" Bronson sighed before reaching into his pocket. "Anyway, just so you know we're friends, here." He said as he handed Logan a card. "If that Harley Davidson of yours ever needs a tuneup or some parts, just let me know."

Logan took the card and looked at the info on it before nodding. "I'll keep that in mind. It'd be nice to have someone who's good with this kind of stuff giving my ride a tuneup." He said as he pocketed the card.

"Glad to see we're all on good terms." Johan smiles. "Come on guys, next round's on me! Fill it up, Hogan!" He called as they all got fresh drinks.

(Elsewhere)

In the street where Chelsea mutilated Daken later that night, the mohawked boy's corpse slowly started to heal and unmangle itself before he gasped for air as his body slowly and painfully put itself back together.

As soon as he was fully healed, he let out an agony filled yell as he slowly got to his feet.

"Okay… Maybe pissing off the dragoness wasn't the best idea I've had." He said to himself. "But still, I think I made my point." He sighed as he slowly started limping away to who knows where.

**Dragon Emperor0: Oh jeez, Chelsea's stuck in her dragon form while pregnant with her first kid. That's gotta be damaging to her self esteem as a expecting first time mom…**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, no kidding. She was expecting the human method of giving birth, not the reptilian way, dammit! Also, Daken got mauled brutally by a pissed off Chelsea… Not his brightest idea.**

**Dragon Emperor0: I was inspired to do that by watching one of my favorite shows: Jurassic Fight Club. In fact, one of the Paleontologists there was the first to coin the phrase 'Mess with my baby, you're messing with hell' in reference to a mother T-Rex… I'd say that fits the Dragoness pretty well, wouldn't you say?**

**ThermalsniperN7: Kinda hard to go wrong with it now. Also… Can we take a brief moment to appreciate the comedic fact that Gavin got covered head to toe in dragon slobber?**

**Dragon Emperor0: I wonder if that's gonna wash out? And it looks like Logan and Chelsea are on good terms again. And now we have someone else from her past around, wonder what kind of stories Bronson has about her?... Man, I hope she gets over her complex soon.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Same here. That complex of hers isn't gonna do her any favors… Oh days, feeding her is gonna be a total nightmare.**

**Dragon Emperor0: No kidding. I shudder to think what the grocery bill is gonna be like. Anyway, see you guys next week!**


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter 61: Every Toad has his day**

Two months had passed since the incident with Chelsea had occurred and as Beast and the other medical professionals had predicted, with every passing day the Dragoness was becoming more and more feral, and they were running out of time before she'd snap.

So, they decided to call in Emma Frost to help with the sessions that Jean and Xavier had been doing up to this point. And although it has been keeping her from going full animal, it was simply only a stop gap. They still needed to find the source of the issue, and quickly.

Logan was taking it the hardest, and was worrying almost non-stop about his unofficial wife's well being. There had been times where he had been unable to fall asleep at night due to his worried thoughts. Everyone had tried to comfort him and tell him that they wouldn't lose her, but it sometimes went in one ear and out the other.

Though this was interrupted by a sudden visit to the Institute from an unexpected person: Magneto. The self proclaimed 'Master of Magnetism' was now currently at the front steps of the Institute in a simple coat and hat and other civilian clothes and was apparently not there to pick a fight, for once.

"What are you doing here, Magneto?" Logan asked, not in the mood for any fights at the moment.

"At ease, Wolverine. I'm not here to fight, I'm simply here to give you an apology." The man told him, causing him to pause.

"I'm listening." The scraggly man said.

"I wanted to apologize for the behavior of Sabertooth and our new ward, Akihiro. Or as you know him, Daken." Magneto explained. "I understand that they have caused you much grief as of late."

"That's putting it lightly, and I was told by Laura that he was dead. Guess she didn't know about his healing factor." He said, muttering that last part to himself. "Things haven't been easy for anyone here for the past two months because of Chelsea's current state." He told the man.

"As I have heard." Magnus nodded. "But rest assured, I will make sure Daken is punished for his actions. After all, the X-men, the brotherhood, and my acolytes are currently in a bit of a truce, correct? I'd hate for it to be jeopardized in its infancy."

"At least he's getting punished." Logan nodded, feeling somewhat at ease by this information. Magneto nodded.

"As I have said before, although things have improved drastically for our kind, I am unwilling to let my guard down. But I do believe that Charles and I may be coming to an understanding more." He said as he turned around. "Farewell Wolverine, and please do give Miss Marks I wish her a good recovery… Or do I call her miss _Howlett_?" He asked with the new surname being said in a teasing tone.

"I'll be sure to tell her, Maximoff." The scraggly man said as he went back inside. He then went to the danger room and was met with a growl as Chelsea looked at him, before her gaze softened when she realized it was him.

"Hey, Chels, how ya feelin'?" He asked as he walked towards her.

(The next day)

On Bayville bridge, it was rush hour and the entire structure was packed with cars heading to various destinations. One of which was a cab ferrying Wanda to her destination on the other side of it.

However as the cab got stuck in the ensuing traffic jam, one of the bridge's support pillars was suddenly set ablaze. At first it was just a few flames, but as they joined the fire then suddenly started to take the shape of horses.

The sight caused many on the bridge to panic and even abandon their cars as the fires spread to the suspension cables holding the structure and burning debris started raining down.

"Look out! The gas tanker's going to blow!" Someone exclaimed, causing people to run as fast as they could.

Wanda, meanwhile, spotted someone on top of the bridge controlling the flames. It was one of Magneto's cronies, Pyro. And it seemed that the Australian pyromaniac seemed to be having the time of his life as he kept blasting the bridge with fire.

"Pyro…" Wanda growled, right before the redheaded pyrokinetic was suddenly sprayed in the face with what looked like… Webs. Wanda blinked when she was the webs before Pyro was suddenly kicked onto one of the cables, where he safely lowered himself to the ground.

"Hey Pyro! Didn't your mom ever tell you not to play with fire?" Spider Man said as he swung onto the scene with his teammates: Power Man, Iron Fist, White Tiger, and Nova right behind him.

Power Man, aka Luke Cage was an African American kid with a stocky and muscular build that was clad in a black and yellow suit with metal bracers on his arms and sunglasses that looked like they belonged to Jordy Le Forge. He had super strength and unbreakable skin.

The large teen took to the tanker and picked it up with both hands before he hurled it over his shoulder and off the bridge, allowing it to explode elsewhere.

"Tanker's Clear!" He called in a Jersey accent.

Next was Iron Fist, aka Danny Rand. This blonde martial artist was Power Man's best friend and had the ability to channel powerful chi into his hands to destroy anything he punched. He was clad in a green high collared suit with a dragon on the chest, and yellow mask.

"The fires have been extinguished." The boy said while bowing.

Deciding to take out the flames, the blonde started punching every car that was on fire to break it before they could explode. While Nova, or Sam Alexander, was rushing Pyro while cloaked in cosmic energy given to him by his Nova Corp Helmet.

"Alright Ava, he's all yours!" Nova called to his final teammate.

This led the Australian Mutant right into the arms of White Tiger, aka Ava Ayala, who's mystical green amulet gave her cat-like abilities. The white clad girl slashed her elongated claws in Pyro's gas tanks, rendering his weapon useless.

"And there goes your source of power." Ava smirked. "He's all yours, Spidey! Take 'em down!" She called the team's leader.

"Way ahead of you!" Peter called back as he delivered a combo of punches and kicks onto the disabled pyromaniac. The final kick sent him flying and he ended up landing at the feet of a surprised Wanda.

"*Gulp* Hey there Sheila, enjoy the fire show?" The man gulped nervously.

The HeX girl snapped out of her surprise and glared at him before grabbing his collar and bringing him to her face.

"I'm going to ask you this _once_, Pyro. Where. Is. Magneto?" She growled at the man. Unfortunately for her, he didn't answer, he just unscrewed something on his back and smoke came out in her face, causing her to drop him and for him to disappear off the bridge.

Wanda coughed as she waved a hand to clear the smoke away from her face, and when she looked around, Pyro was gone.

"Son of a BITCH!" The girl growled, right before she noticed something on the ground. Picking it up, she saw that it was some sort of keychain.

"Hey, who was that creep anyway?" Wanda heard Nova ask as she turned towards Team Spider Man.

"That was Pyro, one of Magneto's acolytes." She replied.

"What was he doing causing wanton destruction like that?" Iron Fist asked as he folded his arms.

"It was a message from my father, he wants me to stop looking for him." The witch growled.

"Not to sound demeaning or anything, but I'd say that for the sake of everyone else, you probably should." White Tiger stated, her hands on her hips. Everyone else seemed to agree with that as well, except for Wanda.

"You have _no _idea of what Magneto did to me! I want him to pay!" She growled at them furiously.

"Selfish desires, like revenge, only lead to pain of the mind, corruption of the heart, and sickness of the soul. You should not pursue such a self destructive path." Iron Fist said sagely as he sat on a car hood in a lotus seating position.

"He's right. Just let it go. There's not going to be any real point in it in the end, anyway." Nova nodded.

"Well maybe if I did to you what he did to me, you'd understand!" Wanda snapped as her HeX energy flowed to her hands.

"Hey now, no need for that." Spider-Man said with his hands in a placating gesture. He then turned to his team. "Come on guys, let's leave her alone…" He said, right before he noticed all the bystanders were back and now they were taking pictures and cheering.

"As soon as we get some pictures with the locals." Power Man chuckled as he went to have a few pictures with some fans, leaving Wanda to go where she wanted.

(Meanwhile)

Laura was walking down the halls of Bayville high in the school's gym uniform. Why? She had just tried out for the girls basketball team, and managed to get on a spot. She was quite pleased with herself, and she couldn't wait to tell Chelsea and Logan.

Though as soon as she got to her locker to get her bags to change, she was met with the _very _unwelcome sight of the resident queen bees of the school. Tiana Prince, Captain of the cheerleading squad and her cronies. Laura's personal nemesis, her high school version of Sabertooth, basically.

"Oh great. What do you want, Prince?" Laura sighed in irritation.

"I saw you at those tryouts, Har-lett, you better not be trying to show me up. Unless you've forgotten, _I'm _the top girl around here." Tiana snapped.

"For the last time, it's _Howlett_. And for your information, the only thing _you _are around here is the top bitch." Laura snapped back, arms crossed under her C-cup chest. "I mean seriously, what self respecting woman would have a box of condoms in her backpack and gym locker? What, you bribing the coaches with a lap dance to stay captain or something?"

"Why you-! Get her!" She ordered her lackeys, who stalked toward Laura… And promptly backed off when she brought her claws out.

"Go ahead, try me, bitches. I dare you." She said challengingly.

The three girls started to back away. "This isn't over you Mutant slut!" Tiana yelled as they ran away.

Laura retracted her claws and groaned in exasperation, realizing that she split her shoes in half. "Damn it, I just bought these." She spat angrily.

(Elsewhere)

Meanwhile, Kurt was walking with his girlfriend Amanda, who had just told him that she wanted him to meet her parents. Needless to say, the fuzzy dude was worried. Sure, he had finally started walking around school in his true form, but he really wasn't looking forward to being forbidden from dating her by her parents.

As good a step the Mutant Equal Rights act was, it unfortunately did not yet cover issues that are that personal at the present moment in time.

"Kurt, come on, I want my parents to meet the _real _you." Amanda told him.

"I don't know if you've noticed, Amanda, but I quite literally could literally pass for zhe Devil." He told her. "No one ever gives me a chance vhen I'm like this." He sighed sadly.

"Then I'll yell at them to give you a chance." She replied sternly. "I don't care if they get scared of your appearance, if I have to raise my voice at them to get them to use their brains, I will." She said resolutely. Her words made Kurt smile and hug her.

"I'm so glad you're in my life." He told her.

"Same here, Kurt." Amanda smiled as she hugged him back.

(Elsewhere)

At the Brotherhood's place, Pietro was just sitting around like a bump on a log watching TV, while Fred was stuck making him lunch and Toad-for some ungodly reason-was on the roof acting as a human satellite dish.

"Is this good?" The amphibian boy called as he got to a new position.

"Just a little more, a little more, just a smidge… There! Hold it!" The speedster called as Toad was now literally balancing on the edge of the roof at this point. He kept watching the tube until Blob came in with a sandwich, which the silver haired boy was apparently not pleased with.

"Here's your sandwich." He said as he handed it to him.

"Fred I told you, turkey, Horseradish mustard, lettuce and grilled onions on the _side! _Do it again! And cut the crust off this time!" Pietro ordered. "Hey newbie! Get in here." He called.

"I told you…" A male voice said before the person walking in was revealed to be Daken, who was wiping his hands clean of car grease from a Lamborghini LM002 SUV he managed to swipe before he arrived at Bayville that he was working on. "My name is Daken." He snarled.

"Yeah, whatever." The silver haired speedster waved off dismissively, getting an agitated growl in return. "Did ya finish fixing your SUV? I got dates to go on this week so I need a ride."

"Oh I finished. But why should I let _you _drive it?" The feral mutant growled.

"'Cause I'm the leader of this team. Capiche?" Pietro said getting in his face. "Magneto demoted you to working under me because of your screw up, so now ya gotta earn his favor back by doing exactly as I say, got it?" He added.

"You say that like you're leadership material." Daken scoffed, finding Pietro unfit to be a leader in his eyes.

"Hey, who was the one who attacked Wolverine's pregnant wife and kid, huh? Well it sure wasn't me." Pietro said as Daken gave an indignant snarl. "Now move that armchair outta my view, or else you'll be sleeping in the dog house." He added with a shooing motion.

".. Alright." Logan's son snarled before grabbing the armchair and throwing it at the speedster, who yelped as he ducked out of the way as it flew out of the window… Just in time for Toad to fall from the roof.

"Hey! You coulda killed me!" The boy snapped.

"That was the plan, you're right." The son of Wolverine nodded, right before he saw someone coming their way. "Anyone know a girl with Onk jewelry on?" He asked.

"Huh?" Pietro asked before he turned around and saw Wanda. "AH! WANDA!" He screamed before he ran into the closet. "Tell her I'm not here!" He yelped. He then closed the door.

"... You're gonna tell her anyway, aren't you?" Fred asked, knowing what was coming next.

"I am." Daken nodded. A few seconds later, Wanda stormed in and was about to demand where Pietro was, but paused when she saw Daken.

"Um, who are you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, having not met him before.

"Daken. I'm a Mutant like you." He told her. He then started to look her over, needless to say, the halfbreed had heard a lot about Pietro's twin sister. And he was honestly impressed, if only for the fact that she was very attractive for a sixteen year old. He thought this even though he was three years her senior (physically at least, biologically he was actually closer to 93 years old). That, and his sense of smell was telling him that she smelled amazing.

On Wanda's end, she did see some similarities between the boy before her and the Mutant Wolverine, maybe they were related? But besides that what really caught her attention was the intoxicating scent that was coming from him. This, unbeknownst to the witch, was the half Japanese Mutants second weapon: his pheromones. Able to increase base emotions like joy, sadness, disgust, anger, fear, or lust depending on what the boy wanted.

"You're a Mutant with Wolverine's powers, I'm assuming?" The HeX witch asked as she discreetly checked him out. She was answered by Daken bringing out his claws. "Well, that answers that question." She shrugged.

"Hey there Wanda, wuzzup?" Toad greeted the girl in an attempt to look cool, while opening the closet. "Hey Pietro, come out, Wanda's here." He said as the speedster fell out of the closet.

"Meep!" The silver haired boy squeaked fearfully as his sister began to glare at him.

"Alright Pietro, where's Magneto?" She snapped.

"How should I know? I told you he calls me." Pietro told her.

"And what's this supposed to be, then?" She questioned as she held up what she had gotten from Pyro on the bridge. Toad took this moment to hop up to her and give it a closer look.

"Mt. Valeena? Hey, isn't that where the ski resort is?" Toad said, getting a shrug from Daken.

"I couldn't possibly care any less." The feral Mutant shrugged, before turning to Wanda. "Why _are _you after Magneto anyway? What? You have daddy issues or something?"

"Pot, meet kettle." Quicksilver quipped as Wanda dropped him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Wanda asked.

"It means exactly what it implies: I'm at odds with my father, too." He replied with a sigh.

Wanda seemed to understand so she just nodded. "I'm going to find Magneto at this resort. If you guys don't wanna get killed, I suggest that you stay out of my way." She states as she started to leave.

"And just how do you plan to do that by yourself?" Daken questioned.

"Yeah, I gotta agree there sweetie, finding and knocking off your pops seems like a two or three man job." Toad added as he hopped up behind the two, only to get back punched by the Mohawked teen.

"You say that like you're qualified for working with her." He deadpanned.

"Hey I got skills, yo. Don't count me out!" The boy protested.

"We probably wouldn't, if you were someone else." Wanda said as he opened the door.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride in my car." Daken told her.

"Thanks." She replied with a thankful nod. Back with Toad, he was thinking about Wanda's words.

"Someone else? … I can do that." He said to himself with a smirk.

(Elsewhere)

Later that night Kurt was about to go to Amanda's house, a bouquet of flowers in hand and was in his true form, however when he was about halfway, his anxieties hit him again.

'_Vhat if they hate me? Vhat if they try to force me away? Ugh, I hate this…!' _He thought in distress.

Unfortunately for him though, just as he was about to turn on his image inducer, his thoughts and actions were halted when he was suddenly tackled by Toad, making him drop his bouquet.

"Vhat the-?! Vhat do you think you're doing, you amphibian?!" The blue teleporter asked, feeling a little peeved about the impromptu ambush.

"Listen ya fuzzy gecko, I need to borrow that watch of yours for something important, so do me a favor and hand it over!" Toad said as the two started tumbling towards Amanda's house in their struggle.

"Get off of me, you moron!" Kurt growled as he tried to pry the lanky boy from his person… Only for their struggle to lead them right onto the Sefton's front porch.

"I need this watch, so hand it over, would ya!" The amphibian themed teen snapped as they continued to struggle. Toad finally managed to get the watch off, but in the process of doing so, he bumped right into the door, the knock alerting the occupants of their presence.

"Give that back, now!" Kurt demanded, feeling less than pleased. Unknown to him, his voice had been heard by Amanda, who had concluded that Kurt was trying to get something back from a possible thief and dashed to the door to help him.

"Kurt, is something wrong?" She asked as she went outside to see Todd Tolansky hopping away with what looked like Kurt's image inducer, and Kurt was dusting himself off angrily while grabbing his bouquet.

"Unfortunately, I just got robbed." He sighed in frustration. "Sorry about zhe state of zhe flowers." He added.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, come on." The girl told him as she led him inside. "Mom, Dad! Kurt's here! And when you see him be nice, he just told me he got robbed on the way over here!" She called.

"Amanda!" The fuzzy boy hissed.

"Alright, we will. You don't have to be shy, Kurt. You can trust us." Amanda's father called out. With that the two parents entered the living room where the young couple was waiting, and were of course (and understandably) taken aback by Kurt's appearance, minus his slightly disheveled clothes given what happened to him earlier.

"... Well, this isn't what I was expecting." Amanda's mother commented after a moment of silence.

"Mom, I _told _you that he'd look a little different." Her daughter chided before pushing Kurt forward. "Go on, Kurt, introduce yourself." She told him.

"H-hi. I'm Kurt Vaghner." He introduced himself nervously while handing Mrs. Sefton the flowers. "These are for you Mrs. Sefton. Sorry about their condition, they got damaged when someone jumped me earlier."

"Oh, that's okay. They still look nice anyway. I'll put them in some water." Mrs. Sefton replied with a smile as she took them to put in a vase. "Also, I have no problems with Mutants." She added to calm his nerves.

"Oh." The blue fuzz ball sighed in relief.

"Yeah… It's my dad who's the problem." Amanda whispered, causing Kurt to look at the man who had his arms crossed. This caused him to groan. This was going to be a _long _and awkward dinner.

(Elsewhere)

At the ski resort Toad had mentioned, Daken and Wanda were now trying to follow Pyro after spotting him and the feral mutant tracking him with his enhanced nose… And after evading a disguised Toad… Twice.

"It's like he doesn't even know how to take no for an answer." Wanda sighed as she rubbed her temples.

"I'll give the Brotherhood this much, they're a persistent bunch." Daken sighed as he leaned back in the ski lift chair they were in.

Wanda couldn't help but look at him as her face and body kept getting warmer and warmer, her cheeks turning pink from said heat. The reason was because of the smell that the Mohawked boy was giving off, it made her feel like she had a fever.

"Daken… What other powers do have, exactly?" She asked.

"Other than my claws and healing factor? Well, I do have a special kind of pheromone that increases the base emotions of anyone around me. I can also control what emotions get boosted." He explained as they disembarked from the Ski lift right behind Pyro.

'_Well that explains why I think he smells nice- Wait, did I just think that?' _She thought with a small blush. "Does it… have any addictive qualities? There's this villain I heard of named Mandrill and he's notorious for using his pheromones to make women into his slaves with them."

"No, mine aren't like that. Besides even if they were, I wouldn't use it that way." He shrugged. "Such underhanded tactics are beneath me." He added.

"Good to know. Anyway, I can see Pyro heading that way." She said as she pointed to where the fire Mutant was snowboarding.

"Then I hope you know how to use that thing." The halfbreed said as he started skiing down the slope after Pyro.

"I do, oddly enough." Wanda replied, feeling a little confused about how snowboarding came naturally to her for some reason.

After following the pyromaniac for a good way, the two saw him enter one of Magneto's domes, which they knew he was in.

"Alright, how are we-" Daken started before a drone suddenly flew up to them and sprayed some knockout gas at them, knocking them unconscious. And off in the distance, Toad saw it all.

"*Gulp* Uh oh." He said under his breath as he hightailed it out of there.

(Elsewhere)

Kurt had just finished having dinner with the Saftons and, while awkward for him, it was a bit relaxing. Right now he was back at the Institute and honestly he wasn't as mad as he could be at Toad, but he was still pretty pissed, especially since it was his fault that the suit Gavin loaned him got messed up.

Though his thoughts were interrupted when his little half brother Damian popped in his room via shadow portal, and amazingly he was just starting to walk!

"Hey, little bro. Are you starting to walk?" He asked with a small smile, glad that he had something to take his mind off his angry thoughts and that his little brother was starting to walk.

"Bubba, Bubba!" The little tyke said as he hopped up and down while clutching her stuffed tiger, Hobbes. Apparently he wanted to be held by his big brother.

"Alright, come here." Kurt said as he picked him up and put him on his lap. Damian smiled as he hugged Kurt and started playing with the stuffed animal in his lap.

Hobbes was a hand me down from Gavin, who was modeled after the stuffed animal form of the pseudo vampire's favorite comic strip character Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. But unlike the original from the comics, this one had a white patch on its under belly from being damaged years ago. Damian never let it out of his sight, in fact, Hobbes is the only way to calm him down enough to make him sleep.

As Kurt relaxed with Damian, Toad chose this moment to make his appearance.

"Fuzzball, I know you're angry, but-" He started, but paused upon seeing Damian in the blue boy's lap. "... Did I come at a bad time?" He asked.

Kurt looked at him with a 'what do you think?' look before he saw Damian slowly let out a yawn and start laying down and snuggling with Hobbes after climbing from his lap onto the bed they were sitting on. Kurt smiled before he turned to toad with a stern look.

"You better have a good reason for coming here." He whispered to avoid waking up Damian.

"It's Wanda, she and our new guy Daken just got snagged by Magneto." Toad explained as quietly as he could.

"Vait, I thought Daken was- … Oh. Healing factor." Kurt sighed quietly, realizing that Daken had gotten Logan's healing factor.

"Yeah, that. Listen, I need your help to rescue them." The lanky boy said, keeping his voice down.

"And vhy should I? You almost _ruined _my dinner vith Amanda's parents!" He hissed.

"Listen, help me with this, and I'll give your watch back. Deal?" He offered.

"Don't really need it anymore, but thanks." The fuzz ball told him before looking over at his sleeping brother. "I may decide to give it to him later." He added in a mutter.

"Come on! We gotta hurry!" Toad told him, but was a little too loud. Both boys tensed as they thought the sleeping (nearly) 1 year old was about to wake up, only for him to yawn and snuggle his tiger before staying asleep. The two teens let out quiet sighs of relief before Kurt gave the other boy a light glare.

"Be. More. Careful." He said in a quiet warning tone, getting a nod of understanding in return.

"Sorry. Come on." Toad replied quietly as they climbed out the window and closed it. They then started making their way to Mt. Valeena.

(Elsewhere)

Wanda slowly woke up and found herself locked in a chair with Daken right across from her, and sure enough, Magneto was there too.

"Why do I get the feeling that they're going to torture us?" The feral mutant wondered aloud right before a shock collar someone put on him while he was unconscious shocked him with enough voltage to allow his skeleton to be seen. Daken let out a pained scream as the volts traveled through his body before it stopped, letting him breath heavily.

"You? Yes, because I am still outright _furious _with what you pulled two months prior!" Magneto thundered angrily.

"... Fuck you, you _pompous_, narcissistic, child abandoning son of a-." Daken started to say before he was shocked again with even more power.

"Do not even _think _of taking that tone with me, Daken! I may have abandoned Wanda, and I still regret that, but what you did… Attacking Logan's pregnant wife is absolutely _INEXCUSABLE!" _The master of magnetism roared.

"That bastard deserves every misfortune he gets! It's his fault I am the way I am!" The Mutant growled. "Especially that _whore _he decides to call a wife, that little bitch I'm forced to call a sister and that _disgusting _little mistake the woman carries in her womb. They all deserve to peri-!" But he was kept from finishing by ten consecutive minute long shocks. After it was over, the spiteful Mutant was barely conscious.

"I. Will. Never. Tolerate. This. Behavior!" Magneto growled. Wanda could only look on with wide eyes full of slight fear. Sure, she had seen people get angry, but never like _this_! Her father was taking it to a whole new level!

Magneto sighed before turning to Wanda. "I'm truly sorry that you had to see that, daughter." He told her. "But Daken must learn that his feud between himself and his father _must _stay between them. The rest of the family does not deserve to be in such a position." He explained.

"Y-y-yeah… S-sure." Wanda replied with a stutter, still feeling fearful of what she'd witnessed and heard from Daken. "Was any of what you said about his actions two months ago actually true?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Every word. And now Ms. Marks is currently stuck in her dragon form due to a concussion." He nodded. "It is a truly regrettable situation." He added solemnly. "But enough of that. Wanda, I want you to know that having to put you in that hospital was the hardest decision I had to make." He told her as sincerely as he could. "It pained me to see you dragged away but, you must understand, I had no choice."

"Forgive me if I find that hard to believe." The girl shot back.

The old man let out a hollow and defeated sigh. "I had hoped that we could have built a new relationship and started over. But if you refuse to do so voluntarily. I will do so through other means." He said as he called in a man who was wearing a brown tunic. "Mastermind, you know what to do."

"Of course." The man nodded before he began using his powers to alter Wanda's memories. Every single moment that was negative in her life, became positive, every horrible experience, wiped away. The old Wanda was slowly starting to become nothing but an old afterthought.

As Mastermind finished, he then turned to Daken. "Is there anything to be done with this one?" He asked, examining the unconscious teen. Magneto hummed in thought for a moment.

"See if you cannot make him more tame and less unruly. And make sure that his murderous tendencies are only reserved for those who deserve it, and for his father. Do not change too much." He told the man.

"As you wish." Mastermind nodded and went to work.

Outside the base, Toad and Kurt crawled along a ledge to avoid possibly getting spotted.

"Are you sure we should do this? Daken's the reason Chelsea's stuck in her dragon form." Kurt whispered.

"It's mostly for Wanda. He's just an extra." The boy shrugged. After hearing about what Daken had done, he… More or less felt a little indifferent with him. He didn't know how to react with him.

"Okay, lets go." The blue mutant nodded as they teleported onto the room's ceiling, and saw Mastermind working on Daken.

"It is done." Mastermind said, backing away from the boy.

"Vhat vas he doing to him?" Kurt whispered, and got a shrug from Toad in return.

"No clue." He replied in a hushed voice. Mastermind then held his head as he registered the presence of the two teens.

"Magneto, we have intruders." He reported.

"Busted." Toad said.

"Come on, let's grab them and go!" Kurt told him as they dropped to the ground and Toad kicked both Magneto and Mastermind out of the way as Kurt grabbed the two unconscious teens. He theme teleported them free of their restraints.

"Exit stage right!" The lanky boy quipped as he and Kurt teleported out with Wanda and Daken.

Magneto shook himself as he got up. "No!" He yelled as he tried to chase after them as they disappeared. "... Is the task done?" He asked Mastermind.

"Yes." The man nodded.

"Then we let them go." The magnetic mutant decided.

(Elsewhere)

Back at the Brotherhood, Wanda and Daken were finally able to get back to the way they were, but now thanks to Mastermind's tampering, both were different.

Wanda didn't feel anger towards her dad anymore and became much more mellow as a result, kind of like Rogue when she first joined the X-men. Daken was pretty much the same but his negative aspects were significantly toned down and now his anger was now exclusively directed towards Logan.

"So, you're not mad at your dad anymore?" Toad asked as Wanda put some books on a shelf.

"I thought I was, but, now I'm not." The girl shrugged.

"Wow, they really did a number on your head! Well, allow me to remind you-whoa!" The amphibious Mutant started to say before Pietro dragged him away.

"Are you nuts?! Do you really wanna start that again?!" He hissed.

"Well she's gotta know, doesn't she?" Toad asked.

"No way! Besides, this works for us. Now that she's like this, she'll stop looking for Magneto and, by proxy, be around you more." He replied with a smirk.

"Say, you're right!" The toady Mutant smiled. "Maybe there's hope for me yet." He grinned as he hopped back into the room where Wanda was.

(Elsewhere)

Amanda and Kurt were taking a walk at night, after school. "I sure do hope that I can get your dad to like me." He sighed.

"I honestly hoped he'd be a bit more open-minded like mom is after meeting you, but it looks like that's gonna take a bit of work." Amanda nodded with a sigh of her own.

"Yeah…" The boy nodded. "Hey, I was wondering. Do you want to meet my little half-brother?" He asked.

"Do I! Take me to him so I can make him laugh!" The girl replied with an excited grin. This caused Kurt to let out a laugh.

"Alright, let's go." He said with a grin as he teleported them to the Institute where Amanda would proceed to make Damian laugh in delight.

**ThermalsniperN7: Okay, this took much more time than I thought it would. At least a few interesting things happened.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Yeah, you'd think this'd be a short one to do… Huh. Well anyway, just so you guys know, we do plan on having the whole situation with Chelsea end the chapter after next. Also in other news, there will be four new sagas coming to the story very soon. The Soldier and the Cat. Eldritch Light. Mending Minds and Bodies. And lastly the Heart of the Spider's Web Sagas. These will be each three chapters long. And the first that will be done is the Soldier and the Cat as a 3 part Halloween special posted on the 29th, 30th and 31st. **

**ThermalsniperN7: And trust us, you guys are gonna like what happens on the 31st. **

**Dragon Emperor0: Also be sure to check out our other story Death Battle: OC Royale. And the matches featuring our OCs in the following matches: Chelsea vs Jake Long, Johan vs Red Hood, Devin vs Genos, and Gavin vs The Seven.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. There's some awesome stuff in those fights. Anyway, see you next time!**


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter 62: Stuck in Your Head.**

_This chapter is inspired by the song 'Stuck in Your Head' by I Prevail._

-_Xavier Institute, October 30th 1998. Damian's birthday-_

About a month before Daken had attacked Chelsea, on a day known as the Devil's day, everyone was doing one of two things: getting ready for Halloween, or setting up another big event: Damian's first birthday party!

"AAAAHHHHH, I can't believe it's happening!" Kitty squealed in delight as she helped with the decorations. "Damian's a year old now!" She continued to squeal happily.

Said blue baby was busy waddling around with his mom Rogue's help until he was led to a play area where his friend Alex Xanatos was sitting, the two boys greeting each other with happy giggles and pudgy two handed high fives.

"That has to be the most adorable high five ever committed." Fox commented as she walked up to Rogue.

"So, do you think Alisa and the others will be able to make it?" The redhead asked.

"I hope so. Damian has certainly taken to Bronx with no problem, and he certainly enjoys Angela and Broadway's company." The gingerette replied as she watched the two toddlers play.

"So, how has everything been going? I hope Damian hasn't caused you guys too much trouble while he's over a Xanatos tower for his lessons and play dates." Gavin said as he, Xanatos and Owen (aka Puck) were talking.

"Oh no, no problems. He's been extremely well behaved during his play dates with Alex, and has been just as well behaved during his lessons." Owen replied reassuringly.

"And I hope you don't mind me saying so, but do you recall when I mentioned that when I observed him that he has all the signs of having a genius level IQ?" Xanatos asked.

"I do." Gavin nodded.

"Well, when I was testing him I at first thought that his IQ was around 160 or 170, around or a little higher than Einstein. However when I continued the tests, I realized that his IQ was at 199, possibly at 200, which would make him the third smartest person in the world." The man explained. Gavin stared at him in shock before he turned to his son, who was playing with Alex, before he turned back to Xanatos.

"I am the father of the smartest child on the planet… I feel immensely proud." He said in a proud voice.

"I knew he was exceptional when he displayed traits and behaviors that didn't usually come to kids his age until much later. For example, he seems to be able to understand words and even follow along with conversations… However, given that he has no idea what it all means yet it's all just gibberish to him." The man nodded. "Another big part of it? He was able to speak several months before other kids in his age group."

"He's really coming a long way, isn't he?" The pseudo vampire mused.

"Indeed, in fact I'd wager that by the age of two he may already be able to read." Owen nodded.

"That's going to be a day to look forward to." Xanatos added, getting a nod from Gavin.

"That it will." He agreed.

Meanwhile with Chelsea, Logan and Laura, the three were very much enjoying a moment that wasn't plagued by bickering or mood swings. Something all three of them were grateful for, after all, they were a family, and constantly fighting wasn't something they enjoyed doing, even if it was as a family.

"This is nice." Laura smiled as she leaned back onto her dad's broad chest.

"It really is." Logan sighed in content as he held his daughter close.

"I love moments like this." Chelsea said in a peaceful tone that made Logan's heart skip a beat. "Really puts me at ease, and that's something I really gotta enjoy." She then laid her head on Logan's shoulder and the three continued to sit together.

Meanwhile, Amanda was in the middle of putting the finishing touches on Damian's birthday cake with Gavin and Devin. The cake was an ice cream cake with a chocolate base and the one year old's favorite two ice cream flavors as the center: Mint chocolate chip, and cherry Giovanni. It was decorated with green and blue icing in the shape of the jungle. Based off of the Jungle Book, Damian's favorite movie.

"Hard to believe he's a year old now." Devin commented as they finished the cake.

"It seems like only yesterday I was doing the same thing for you two boys." Amanda mused as a small tear slowly made its way down her cheek.

"And now I'm doing the same for Damian. Who knew being a father would be so life changing?" Gavin mused while hugging his mother. "Thanks for always being there for me mom." He told her.

"I'd do it all again for you, sweetie." The interpol woman responded with a smile as she hugged her son back.

It was right around this time that the back door knocked after the sun started setting, when Kurt went to open it, he was met with Alisa and the gargoyles.

"Hey guys." The blue boy smiled.

"Auntie Alisa!" Kai and Pele cheered as they ran towards their aunt.

"Hey, kiddos." Brooklyn chuckled as the two girls came and hugged him.

"Has the party started yet?" Broadway asked.

"Nah, come on in, we're actually just about to start!" Gavin called as Amanda started getting the candles ready and Rogue picked up Damian so they could put him in his high chair. The one year old was currently dressed in a pair of khaki pants, tiny sneakers, and a light blue shirt that said 'I may be blue, but I'm happy' on it.

"Alright, is everybody ready?" Amanda asked everyone, and got a 'yes' or some other answer of affirmation from everyone gathered.

"One, two three!" Gavin counted before everyone started to sing, sans Goliath and Bronx (the latter being one to howl instead). "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Damian! Happy birthday to you!" The people all sang.

"Okay sweetheart, go ahead and blow out your candles." Rogue told him, kissing his cheek. The birthday boy did as his mother beckoned and blew out his candles… Only for a few of them to reignite themselves, causing chuckles to escape a few people as Damian tried to snuff them out.

"Come on little bro, put your back into it!" Kurt encouraged. With a deep breath, the little guy inhaled, and then blew hard, Finally extinguishing the candles for good.

Everyone cheered happily as Damian giggled. "Dada, Mama! I did it!" He giggled.

"You sure did little dude, did you remember to make a wish?" Gavin asked.

"Yes!" The blue boy replied with a smile.

"What'd you wish for?" Chelsea asked, but was only met with the response of the kid literally zipping his mouth shut.

"You knew that was gonna happen." Laura commented with a chuckle.

"I kinda liked it better when he was a baby. He wasn't such a smart alec back then." The blonde huffed indignantly as said toddler smiled at her in mischievous glee.

"You know you love it when he's like this." Gavin teased with a grin.

"You're right, I do." She sighed.

As everyone got some cake, both Rogue and Amanda were constantly trying to keep Damian's face clean as he insisted on being messy with eating his cake, ice cream and cake and icing smearing all over his face as he chowed down on it.

"Damian, don't do that! You'll get a brain freeze!" Rogue lightly scolded as she tried to get her son to eat more reasonably.

However, her warnings went unheeded as the boy suddenly tensed up and started rubbing his forehead. His poor little brain had just experienced its first brain freeze.

"Ow…!" He whined as the feeling faded.

"Listen to your mom when she tells you something, Damian. It'll help a lot." Amanda told her grandson.

Everyone couldn't help but chuckle. Next was the presents and everyone had either gotten him some more clothes, a couple new toys, and things like that. Though apparently Hudson had gotten him a small knight helmet with two little horns on it, which slid down when he put it on.

Yep, Damian was a year old now. It was definitely a great day.

(Present day)

Back to present day. One month had passed since the fiasco with Wanda and Daken, and Chelsea still hadn't come out of her dragon form. However the good news was, Emma and Xavier were extremely close to finding the source of the problem, but the bad news was, they were running out of time.

Though on a more light hearted note, Rogue was currently playing racket ball with Devin and Scott while Gavin was in the middle of a business call with Xanatos, who said he wanted to invest in X-Tremeade.

Rogue let out a grunt as she sent the ball into the wall and Scott smacked it back when he saw it coming his way.

As he smacked it, it bounced off a corner and right at Devin, who quickly smacked it right back and caused his opponent's to fall over in the process due to not being able to react in time.

"Looks like I win." The T-1000 reference commented as he wiped his brow.

"Yeah, looks like it." Scott nodded. "So, are you guys going to the I Prevail concert tomorrow night?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm going with Roxy. I'm guessing you're going to go with Jean?" Devin nodded.

"Yeah. What about you, Rogue?" Scott nodded before turning to ask the southern belle..

"If Gavin doesn't have any business related stuff, then Ah might go with him." She nodded.

"Good. Ya know I don't know if I've ever told you this, but you two really are great together." The shaded boy told her as they all got some X-Tremeade from a cooler inside the room.

"Ah think you already said that at least once." Rogue mused as she took a sip of her boyfriend's product.

"Anyway, same time next week?" Devin asked as he finished his bottle.

"Yeah." Scott nodded as the two boys left. Leaving Rogue alone in the room.

'_You know that he hasn't been around because he's avoiding you, right?' _A wicked voice that wasn't hers hissed in her mind as her cosmic flight powers activated without her wishing for it to, before it hurled her into an adjacent wall.

"What the-?! What was that?" She asked as she looked at her hands.

'_You're a danger to everyone around you, you nearly killed several people because of your weakness, you don't deserve the friends you have. You don't deserve any of it. You're a monster, a freak! Stuck in her own body and head. A prisoner to her own power.' _The voice snapped again as it forced her body to slam up against the wall so she couldn't move.

"What the hell is this?!" Rogue hissed in shock as she tried to regain control of her body.

'_When I'm through with you, your body is going to be mine.' _The voice said as it disappeared and the girl was finally able to regain control of her body. The southern belle could only curl up as she tried to make sense of what had just happened.

That night she tossed and turned in her sleep as she felt her body heat up and ache all over, before excruciating shot through her body as it started to change a blinding cosmic blue light filled the room.

As the light died down, Rogue was left in her usual sleep attire, but it was now smaller fitting on her and her lean and smooth body was now more toned and built like Jean and Chelsea, and was also sexy with an hourglass figure with thick thighs, sexy legs, a peach shaped ass, and her DD-cup chest grew all the way to E-cup which was very close to pushing into F-cup territory.

The girl panted as the changes stopped, her powers had just altered her body. Just what the hell was going on?!

(Elsewhere)

A car drove up to a random house and as the window rolled down, a cat which was on the porch of the house hopped inside the car before it transformed into Mystique, and the person beside her was revealed to be her lover and Rouge's foster mom, Irene, aka Destiny.

"I'm here, Destiny. What is so urgent that you have to speak with me?" She asked.

"It's about Rogue. I've been having visions, all of them leading to the same outcome: Her either perishing, or becoming a vessel for a vengeful soul that is trapped inside her body." Irene explained.

"Who's soul is it?" The shapeshifter questioned.

"It is a fragment of the soul of Carol Danvers, otherwise known as Ms. Marvel. I fear that if something isn't done to stop this fragmented psyche, Rogue could be taken over." The woman told her. Mystique was immediately concerned.

"Please tell me there is a way to avert this." She begged.

"There may be, but you may not like who we'll have to go to for assistance." Irene nodded before the car stopped, and Mystique quickly took the form of Risty as they both stepped out and found Gavin in the middle of talking to Xanatos about the investments.

"You can't be serious." Risty whispered to the blind woman.

"Sadly, I am. He is our best chance at saving Rogue from being taken over." Irene whispered back. Risty sighed as they walked up to the two men, who were having coffee at a cafe.

"Hey Gavin." Risty said as they turned to face them. Gavin seemed happy to see his British friend again, though his expression soon turned sour when he saw Irene. Needless to say he was not a fan of his girlfriend's foster mother.

"Hey, Risty. I'd say it's glad to see you after all this time, but I can't really do that with her here." The boy remarked as he sent a look at Irene.

"It's nice to see you once again as well, Mr. Shirakumo." The woman told her.

"Sorry, but who is this?" Xanatos asked.

"This would be my friend from England, Risty and Rogue's bitch of a foster mom, Irene." Gavin explained curtly, completely ignoring the fact that the woman was standing right there.

"Do you really have to be so rude?" The purple streaked girl asked.

"If you knew half of the bullshit she and Mystique put me and Rogue through, you'd get it… Speaking of, how is your aunt anyway?" He asked, though there seemed to be some sarcasm in his tone.

"She's fine. But that's not why we're here." The girl told him. "Auntie Irene's had a vision about Rogue."

"Oh jeez… How bad is it?" Gavin groaned.

"Very." The woman told him. "Allow me to start from the beginning."

(Later)

After Rogue was finally able to get clothes that fit her newly reshaped body, she immediately took note of the fact that she was as tall as Jean now and her rack was nearly on par with Emma. She had to admit, she looked sexy as hell. And on top of that her hair was much more wavy and free flowing now, and even seemed curly.

"Okay… Unexpected, but welcome." She mused as she finished looking herself over before she started squeezing her newly expanded ass, moaning in pleasure as she imagined Gavin grabbing her there and manhandling her against a wall and going to town on her.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, startling her out of her thoughts before she wondered how she was supposed to explain her new change. When she opened the door she saw that it was Laura standing there at the other side of the door.

"Hey Rogue, have you seen my-Whoa." She started to ask before she saw her new look. "... You look like you belong in a playboy magazine." She said without realizing it. Rogue blushed beet red at her words.

"Uh… Thanks… So what did you need again?" She asked.

"Oh right. Have you seen my gloves anywhere? I can't seem to find them." The Wolverine girl asked.

"Ah'm not sure. Hang on a second." The transformed girl replied before she looked around to see if Laura's gloves were anywhere in her room. After a few moments of searching, she came back empty-handed. "No sign of 'em in here." She said.

"Okay, thanks anyway. Hey, are you okay? You seem paler than usual." Laura asked, noting Rogue's paler skin tone.

"Ah just had a rough night." She deflected.

"You… Wanna talk about it?" She asked. The girl had been working on her social skills and empathy skills, so she was trying her best to act correctly in this situation. Especially with her sister figure.

"Ah'll let you know when Ah can put it into words. Thanks, though." Rogue replied with a sigh.

"Okay." The girl nodded as she left her alone.

(Later)

Rogue was walking the halls of Bayville high and was about to enter the girls bathroom when she experienced another flash from the personalities again as she walked through the door. She grunted as she tried to reign them in with a little success.

"Rogue? Is that you?" Risty said as she walked in behind her, a shocked look on her face from the girl's new appearance.

"Risty? Where have you been the past several months? You just vanished." Rogue asked in return. "And yeah, it is me." She added.

"Stuck in England. My parents didn't want me here during the chaos, especially after Aunt Raven disappeared." The girl told her. "So, I've heard that you and Gavin finally got together. It's about time too."

"Can't really argue with that, especially after how long that phase was going on." The southern belle sighed as they walked.

"So, you two have any fun yet or what?" The British girl teased as they left the bathroom with a semi lewd gesture. Rogue looked at her with a small blush before she glanced around before pulling her close to whisper to her ear.

"Yeah we did, and it was the best thing ever." She whispered with a grin.

"Ooh! Well, come on! I want to know all the steamy details!" Risty grinned as they walked to class together.

Later on, they sat in the common area just as Rogue had another wave of negative emotions hit her from the personalities.

"You okay? What's wrong?" Risty asked.

"Ah'm not sure. It's been happening since yesterday." Rogue replied as she held her head.

"What's been happening? Does it have something to do with your powers?" She questioned.

"It could be." The white streaked girl nodded at that. "It's just… Getting so crowded in here." She groaned, right before two strong arms wrapped around her stomach and she felt some start kissing her from her left shoulder to the left side of her neck.

"Hey, Anna." Gavin said as he continued to kiss and lick the nape of her neck.

"Hey, Gav." Rogue responded as she leaned into his embrace. She then turned around and captured his lips with hers and pulled him into a deep kiss, which he responded to by slipping his tongue into her mouth. After a moment of this, they pulled back and looked into each other's eyes.

"You know, I don't mind the new look. Especially the hair." He commented, stroking his girlfriend's head lovingly.

"Thanks." She smiled back.

"So, you guys gonna go to the concert tonight? Seems like it'd be a fun date." Risty suggested before smirking. "Plus I hear concerts have a way of putting someone in the mood."

"Stop being a perv, Risty." Gavin deadpanned before shrugging. "But yeah, I don't have any business related stuff tonight, so I'm free." He added.

"Though with everyone else going somewhere, we'll need someone to babysit Damian…" Rogue noted.

"Oh jeez, that's right. Who, though?" Gavin wondered.

"Well, my aunt Irene is in town… Maybe ask her?" Risty asked, this immediately caught Rogue's attention since she knew exactly who she was talking about.

"Um… Nothing against her or anything, but wouldn't her blindness be detrimental to babysitting?" She asked in concern, Gavin nodding in agreement.

"She was able to raise you, wasn't she?" The girl asked indignantly. The Mutant couple glanced at each other before shrugging.

"Fair enough." Gavin conceded. He may not like Irene, but he would at least give credit where it's due.

"Well come on then, if we hurry we can get there early!" Risty told them.

(Elsewhere)

Irene soon arrived at the Institute to watch Damian, and was met with an empty house. As she stepped inside, she found a note on the kitchen table giving her necessary information… which included a section on Damian's powers and habit of escaping and causing mischief everywhere he went.

"Oh dear..." The blind seer sighed tiredly.

This was going to be a long night.

(Elsewhere)

At the concert, everyone was in the crowd as I Prevail started playing many of their hit songs, though things started to take a turn when they began to play their newest single: 'Stuck in Your Head'.

'_Gotta keep Rogue close to me. As long as she's near me, she won't use control.'_ Gavin thought as he held his girlfriend tightly.

Though as things continued going on, Rogue began to clutch her head. The personalities were starting to act up again. And this time the one that had been speaking to her was being even viscous and forceful. So much so that it caused her to use her own super strength, and the strength from Blob and Juggernaut to force herself away from Gavin and tear her shirt.

This occurred right before she bumped into several people and then slammed into Risty, and this went on longer than the two minute safe window and she started sapping her life force, and as she did, Risty suddenly changed into Mystique.

'_WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?!'_ Gavin thought in an equal amount of shock and anger. This soon escalated into Rogue suddenly shape shifting into Sabertooth, and then attacking him. The others in the crowd also noticed what was going on and kept their distance. "Fuck! This is literally not good!" He cursed.

The pseudo vampire quickly flipped his currently shape shifted girlfriend over himself and sent her flying into a speaker, which caused her to transform again into Juggernaut. With a loud yell, she charged her way out of the concert and onto the street, away from everyone.

Gavin then growled as he grabbed Mystique and disappeared with her before reappearing a block away in an alley.

"Now no one will be able to stop me when I kill you." He snarled with an unfathomable amount of bloodlust in his voice.

"G-Gavin wait! Don't!" The blue skinned shapeshifter pleaded as she tried to distance herself from him.

"Too late. It's _far _too late for that." He said coldly as he raised a flattened hand and was about to thrust it through her heart, when he was telekinetically stopped from doing so.

"Gavin, no! We're not going to kill her!" Jean said sternly as she lifted him up and away from Mystique.

"Let go of me! She's crossed me for the last time, you hear me?!" He yelled as he tried to get out of her grip.

"I think our bigger concern should be helping Rogue." Scott commented as he walked up to them. This made Gavin stop struggling. He had completely forgotten about her. He needed to get to her quickly, before it was too late.

"... I'll deal with _you _later." The boy growled at the redhead before he left with his two teammates.

(Elsewhere)

Logan now had Rogue cornered with the others close behind, but before they could get her, the fragment of Ms. Marvel's psyche took primary control of her body and morphed her clothes into a Ms. Marvel costume. But this one left little to the imagination.

The leotard's stomach area was completely removed and the costume's crotch covering was virtually nonexistent, and on top of that the sides of her breasts were completely exposed and so was her ass. She also had on thigh high black stilettos and a red sash on her hips, and her chest had a lightning bolt on it.

"... Seriously?" Kitty deadpanned upon seeing the outfit.

"Let's focus on _her_, and not the outfit, huh?" Laura asked as the Southern belle started using all of her accumulated powers all at once.

"Okay, zhat's a big problem!" Kurt exclaimed over the howling winds.

"I wish Johan and Katerina were here!" Roxy shouted. However right as she said that, Spider-Man and his team appeared.

"Peter!" Laura said in relief.

"Hey, gang! What's happening?" The web slinger asked before having to dodge a car that was sent flying. "Ack! Watch it!" He called.

"It's one of the personalities Rogue's absorbed! It looks like the fragment of Ms. Marvel's taken over!" Jean called.

"Okay, well team, you know what to do!" Peter said to his team. "Luke, Danny, handle ground control and make some she doesn't have any ammo. Sam, Ava, you guys try to coral her so that I can help Jean, and Storm pull her down!"

"Got it!" They said in unison before doing their tasks. As Sam and Ava rushed Rogue, they slowly drove her into the waiting air currents of Storm which then brought her to Jean, who tried to pull her down with the help of Peter.

But as soon as she was on the ground, she suddenly started duplicating herself and attacking Laura, Logan and Gavin.

"When did she get Jamie's powers?!" Laura shouted as she kicked a clone back.

"He must've been at the concert!" Gavin shouted in reply as he knocked back another clone of his (currently sexy) possessed girlfriend.

Logan leapt over Rogue and then tried to jump her, but instead went right through her, however this was just the opportunity Gavin needed to tackle her.

"Anna! Listen to me, Anna, I know you're in there somewhere. You better get your head together or I will come in there and force you to myself!" He snapped at her, deciding to do something she liked: being taken charge of. It seemed to do the trick if her changing back to normal briefly was anything to go by.

"That's right Anna, don't let that bitch in your head own you. The Rogue I know would never let that happen." He said as the girl kept thrashing under him and the Ms. Marvel psyche constantly makes her transform back and forth while telling him to get off. "She _can't _own your body, because you know why? Because your body and your soul belongs to _me_, and no one else! You belong to me!"

Xavier quickly came towards them and started trying to drive out every last personality while Gavin held her down. His girlfriend let out a scream as she shifted through all the personalities she absorbed with Ms. Marvel being the last one which offered up the most resistance before Rogue finally turned back to normal. She looked at Gavin and smiled tiredly before she passed out.

The pseudo vampire took her into his arms and held her tightly. "I meant what I said, Ana. You belong to me, now and forever. And now, I'm going to take what's mine." He declared firmly.

Xavier looked at the scene and smiled. "Come. Let's get her to the med bay at the Institute." He beckoned. Gavin nodded before he got in the X-Van and they all made their way back to their home.

(Elsewhere)

While the others were headed towards the Institute, Irene was currently trying to track down a shadow hopping Damian, was waddling his way towards the kitchen until he shadow teleported himself to the top of a table where a cookie jar was. Eager to eat a sugary treat, he waddled toward it and took the lid off before he took one out and proceeded to it.

Though as he started to get another, his babysitter walked right into the kitchen and caught him with his hand literally in the cookie jar. This was further enhanced when his big brother came in there as well. Slowly pulling his little hand out of the jar, he slowly and carefully put the lid back on before smiling at the two innocently.

"... Let's just agree to not say anything." Irene sighed.

"Agreed." Kurt nodded.

"Big bro! Big bro!" The toddler said, reaching for the blue elf. Kurt just smiled before he walked over to him and picked him up.

"Thanks for looking after him, Irene." The blue elf said in gratitude.

"It was no bother." She replied.

(Elsewhere)

Gavin was currently sitting next to Rogue's hospital bed with Logan while Laura and Xavier waited outside.

"They haven't budged since we got back." She whispered. "Should we be worried?"

"No. They're far too loyal to her to simply leave her side. They have a lot to come to terms with." The professor replied.

"I won't lie to you two, this is gonna be a hard pill to swallow. Something about betrayal really sticks with you, but trust me, we'll get through it." Logan told the two.

"I know. And I intend to help Rogue do just that." The boy nodded as he took his lover's hand. Suddenly, Rogue's hand grasped his, prompting him to look and see that she was finally awake and smiling at him. Gavin smiled back before giving her a kiss on the lips.

"Ah knew you wouldn't let me go." She said with a weak smile.

"And I never will." He told her. Logan looked at them and smiled as Kurt brought Damian in and the three all joined in a group hug.

(Elsewhere)

After everything had happened, Mystique met up with Irene again to see if anything had changed.

"Well? What do your visors tell you now, Destiny?" She asked.

"Rogue is back in our future, but a dark shroud encompasses you both… No, everything. An ancient Mutant will rise and walk the Earth once more and take it as his own." She replied in a grave tone. "Dark times are coming." She concluded as she took her shades off, revealing her glassy eyes.

**Dragon Emperor0: For all of you who are confused about why Damian's birthday is in October when logically it would be in September, it's because due to the odd nature of his development in Mystique's womb he ended up being born a month late.**

**ThermalsniperN7: This kind of stuff can happen, so don't overlook it. Also… Anyone think Rogue looked hot in that Ms. Marvel outfit?**

**Dragon Emperor0: With curves like that? Who wouldn't. Also if you guys are wondering what her new design looks like, it's more or less similar to how she is in the comics, just a little younger (obviously).**

**ThermalsniperN7: And Mystique has done goofed for possibly the last time. I doubt she'll ever be on good terms with Gavin and Rogue ever again.**

**Dragon Emperor0: I don't think she was ever on good terms with them to begin with. Anyway guys, be sure to stay tuned for the next chapter because it's where Chelsea is finally able to undragon herself. And after that, another X-baby is gonna be born.**

**ThermalsniperN7: If you guys are wondering how that's gonna go down… We're not telling, because that'll ruin the surprise. Anyway, see you guys next time.**


	63. Chapter 63

**Chapter 63: To Save One from Oneself**

Two months had passed and Chelsea still hadn't been able to change back. Her pregnancy term had passed and she was basically mere _days _away from laying an egg containing her baby. But she was also more animalistic than ever, in fact her human side was practically gone at this point. Things looked like they were hopeless…

But this is the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, home of the X-men. Making hopeless situations into best case scenarios against all odds were what they did best.

"Alright, this is distressing." Xavier sighed tiredly as he sat with Emma to try and figure out what to do.

"Yes, right now the restraints we've put on her are the only things keeping her from going on a rampage." The blonde nodded. "However, as luck would have it, I believe I know exactly how we can bring her back to her senses and back to normal."

"What is it?" The professor asked, his attention focused on her.

"Just before her mind went completely feral, I was able to get a glimpse of the deepest part of Chelsea's mind. Apparently she's been building up some sort of mental and emotional barrier in her mind and hiding behind it because of her complex with children and being a parent. Only now her feral side has taken all of her human aspects and locked it away behind said barrier and now thanks to this situation, she doesn't have the willpower to force herself out." Emma explained.

"So what you're saying is, if we can coax her out and restore her willpower…" Xavier started to say.

"We can bring the Chelsea we all know and love back." Emma finished with a nod. "That's exactly it." She added.

"Then it seems we have work to do. What will we need to do this?" The man asked.

"Someone or someones to help keep her focused, as long as we can keep her human side focused on them, we telepaths can then go into her mind to help her regain control." The woman told him.

"I'll be sure to contact Logan, Laura, Marcus, Bast, Pele, Kai, Romano, Gavin and Bronson as soon as possible." Xavier nodded.

"Excellent. They'll be a huge help." The platinum blonde agreed.

With that, they began the preparations to save Chelsea from herself.

(Elsewhere)

Everyone was now gathered in the Danger Room where a muzzled and restrained Chelsea was busy thrashing around against her shackles, her green eyes showing very little, if at all, humanity in them. They were about to start, however…

First they had to deal with the football sized red and green scaled egg that was currently underneath the Dragoness's underbelly.

"Okay… How do we do this without pissing her off?" Romano asked.

"I could freeze her and Rahne could go in and grab it?" Bobby suggested.

"She'd just break free and swat her away before she gets close enough." Marcus dismissed.

"Do you have any sleeping gas?" Bast asked him.

"Would that even work on a dragon?" Gavin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well what do you have in mind, then?" The woman snapped. Gavin then just jabbed a thumb at Katerina.

"How about we have Katerina just knock her out?" He suggested. Everyone else glanced at each other before shrugging.

"Okay." Romano nodded. Katerina sighed before she walked right up to Chelsea and looked her in the eyes, right before her eyes glowed red and she used her powers to make the dragon woman fall unconscious with an audible thud as she fell on her side.

Laura quickly darted in and secured the egg before running it over to Bast, Beast and Sampson, who started examining it to make sure it was unharmed.

"Is it okay?" She asked. After a moment of assessment, Sampson was the one to speak.

"The baby's perfectly fine. We're not seeing any problems." The man said, causing everyone to sigh in relief.

"Alright Jean, Katerina, you both will help me keep Chelsea's dragon side busy while Emma goes in to coax out her human side." Xavier told the two.

"Right." The two nodded.

"Alright everyone, on my mark. 1, 2, 3!" Emma said before all four telepathic Mutants started sending their consciousnesses into Chelsea's mind.

-_Chelsea's Mind-_

When they arrived in Chelsea's mind, they didn't know what to expect. What they got was a landscape that had a burning forest with a dragon flying overhead, indicating that Chelsea's dragon side was definitely in control.

"Come on, we've got to move quickly!" Emma told them as they started running into the mental forest in front of them, which had trees which showed tv films of the blonde's memories on the trunks. Every. Single. One. Save the ones that were erased (which were symbolized by a chopped tree stump) or a suppressed one, which was represented by a withering tree.

"Huh, definitely an interesting layout." Jean commented as they ran.

"No argument here." The eldritch woman nodded in agreement.

Though then they reached parts of her personality, which were represented by large castles with images of things she hated, liked, loved, thinks about etc. on the doors of each castle. Beer, Mr. T her pet turtle, her family, Logan and Laura, her insecurities, they were all here.

But the place they were looking for was standing right in front of them: a massive castle that was as gold as her hair, with green stained glass windows depicting her life. It was where her human side was hulled up.

"Alright, this is where we'll find her. You know what to do." Emma said to the others.

"Right." Jean and Katerina nodded.

"Charles, come with me." She told the man as they entered the castle. Inside it looked like every place Chelsea had been in her life. And at the very top tower, there was a door that had a sign with her initials on it. One Emma recognized from their sessions.

"It's her childhood room, this is where her human side is hiding." The blonde told the man behind her.

"Let's try to come off as non threatening as possible. We don't want to scare her in the event she's in a fragile state." The bald man stated, getting a nod in return.

As they slowly opened the door, they slowly entered a room decorated in dragon figures, a tank with a mental version of Mr. T in it, a bed, posters of various seventies bands and other things. And huddled on the bed was a thirteen year old Chelsea, who was crying and shivering in her room.

"All this time alone in her own mind… it's caused her to regress back to the period where it all began, the age when she was taken by HYDRA." Emma whispered, immediately recognizing the phenomenon. "I've seen this happen before."

"Do you have a way to rectify it?" Xavier whispered his question.

"One, we remind her of who she really is, and we make her realize that her fears cannot and should not control her." She replied before she approached the young girl. "Chelsea? It's me, Emma." She said softly. The girl sniffled for a moment before looking up at her with teary eyes,

"E-Emma...?" She asked with a sob.

"It's alright sweetie, I'm just here to help you." Emma told her as she sat next to her. "Everyone misses you dear, they want you to come back to you." She told her.

"B-But I can't… I'm n-n-not strong enough." She stuttered as her head lowered again.

"That's not true, Chelsea." Xavier told her. "You are by far one of the strongest women I've had the pleasure of knowing. Need I remind you that even though you were _terrified _of becoming a mother, you pressed on and kept going for the sakes of those you loved? _That _takes courage and true strength, Chelsea."

"I don't have any of that now…" She sighed sadly.

"But you do, you're just not letting yourself show it." Emma told her. "All your life you've feared turning out like your parents and becoming what HYDRA wanted you to be, but look at what you've become now! You've become a better parent than yours ever were, a better wife, and a stronger woman than anyone in HYDRA could _ever _be!" She added. "Don't you see, Chelsea? You _are _strong, you are an _amazing _woman, wife and mother, and you've proven that this fear you have? Is all in your head! You are so much more, and I know you know it!"

"Listen to her, Chelsea! Are you really going to let your own fears take control of you again?" The professor added, hoping to encourage her further.

Chelsea looked at them both before she made a determined face, images of everyone that she loved filling her head. Clenching her fists, her body glowed red as she started to change.

Meanwhile with Katerina and Jean, Chelsea's dragon side was now attacking them, and they were getting cornered.

"Fucking hell! This is an even bigger pain in the ass than I thought it'd be!" The Cthulhu woman growled as she sent a blast of eldritch energy at the beast of myth only for it to be evaded and answered with a fireball, prompting her to dodge.

"I hope the others can get Chelsea to come back soon, because I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!" Jean groaned as she made a forcefield which the dragon kept slamming against and causing them to inch backwards with every strike. Right as the dragon was about to strike it again…

_**BAM!**_

It was sent flying back with a surprised roar, causing the two to blink. Standing in front of them was a now fully grown Chelsea, who was in her X-men costume and had just sucker punched the dragon in the snout, and her fist was smoking from the collision.

"Alright, you fucknugget! I'm taking my body back!" She yelled fiercely. Her dragon side roared at her and sprayed saliva all over her as the wind from its roar blew her hair back, right before she clamped its mouth shut with one hand.

"She's finally back in the game. Great timing." Katerina said with a smirk on her face. Chelsea then slammed her dragon side's head on the ground before she hoisted it up and then hurled it several feet away right in front of a dragon shaped mountain which had a cave opening in the chest.

Grabbing the giant lizard by the tail, she picked it up and then started swinging it around and around in circles.

"Go. Back. Into. Your. Hole!" The blonde yelled before she let go and sent the dragon flying into the cave and then rolled a giant stone in front of the entrance, before taking a deep breath and using her fire breathing to melt it in place. "And stay in there." She declared while dusting her hands together as everyone else came up behind her.

"Welcome back, Chelsea." Jean said with a smile.

"Good to be back." The woman smirked happily. "Now come on, I got a family to get back to." She smiled as everyone started returning to reality.

-_Back in reality-_

Everyone was waiting for the four mindwalkers to return from Chelsea's mind for the past fifteen minutes, and needles to say, things were very tense.

"What's taking so long? Are they okay?" Laura asked as she was pacing around.

"Easy Laura, trust me we're all worried here, but pacing isn't gonna help anything." Bronson told her.

"I can't help it. Can you blame me?" She asked, not stopping her pacing. Though as she said that…

All four telepathy users gasped awake and sat up, and right after them, Chelsea also woke up, everyone took in a collective sharp inhale before…

The red scaled dragon slowly started transforming back into the green eyed blonde they all knew. Only this time, her baby bump was completely gone so her maternity clothes were now very loose on her.

"MOM!" Laura shouted in joy as she and Logan rushed up to her and tackle-hugged her.

"Hey Laura, I know you must have missed me, huh?" Chelsea asked her as she hugged them back.

"Like you wouldn't believe, scales. Never scare us like that again." The scraggly man told his unofficial wife as he took in her scent.

"Don't worry, I won't, hubby." She whispered before kissing Laura on the cheek and then kissing him next.

"Well, that was one hell of an adventure." Katerina commented.

"No kidding." Jean nodded. "I'm just glad it's over." She added as all of Chelsea's friends and family surrounded her and started hugging her.

"Come, we need to get this egg into an incubator." Sampson told his daughter as he led them to the medbay.

Chelsea nodded as she carried her future child in her arms as caringly and lovingly as possible. Kissing the egg's Outer shell.

"It's okay baby. Mommy's got you." She cooed to the embryo inside.

(Four months later)

Everyone was crowding around the incubator in the middle of medbay as Chelsea's egg started to shake and rattle. Chitters, chirps, hisses, squeaks, and tiny roars were coming from inside. It was about to hatch!

"Baby Dwagon?" Damian asked from in his dad's arms.

"That's right, son. It's gonna be a baby dragon that comes out of there." Gavin nodded.

"Chuck, do you think the baby will be able to turn into a human?" Logan asked the telepath as he held Chelsea close.

"I certainly hope so. If the baby turns out to be a similar case like Damian, then that will be a blessing." The bald telepath said thoughtfully, referring to Damian getting his powers before he was even a year old.

"Come on little sis or bro… Come to big sis Laura…" Laura whispered eagerly as the egg started to crack.

"Come on, come to Momma/Daddy." The couple pleaded, right before a small claw clawed its way out of the side of the shell. Everyone perked up in excitement as another claw emerged before they dragged the body they were attached to out.

Coming out of the egg's shell was the exact image of a baby Black Dragon from Dungeons and Dragons 5E with the same brown eyes as Logan.

"Aww!" Laura gushed as the incubator opened and she picked up the new fledgling dragon. "He's sooo _cute_!" She giggled as she hugged her new little sibling.

"Don't be selfish, Laura. Let mommy hold the baby." Chelsea teased with a smile as she held her arms out expectantly. Laura handed her the tyke and almost immediately he started purring and rubbing its little head into her chest. Logan had a smile on his face as he scratched his new son's head, and was delighted when he leaned into it.

"So, have you decided on a name?" Sampson asked as he too patted his grandson's head.

"His name is going to be Drake." The new mother said, and was happy when her son let out a cute roar in response. "I think he likes it." She giggled.

As they set Drake on the hospital bed, Damian got himself down and started waddling over to it and tried his best to climb up it before looking at Rogue for help.

"Up mama, want up." He told her. Rogue looked at him and chuckled.

"Alright, sweetie. You can make a new friend." She said as she lifted him onto the bed, and watched as the little blue skinned sweetheart made his way over to Drake.

As the one year old boy sat in front of his newborn reptilian friend, he decided to do something to make him laugh. So he concentrated and used his magical power to turn himself into an exact copy of Drake's dragon form. Rogue blinked when she saw that, and wondered when he learned to do that.

When Drake's head turned to him, his eyes widened in surprise upon seeing another like him before his eyes. Then the baby mythical lizard started letting out cackling squawks as he started rolling around the bed.

When Damian then turned back to normal, Drake decided he wanted to try it too. So he tried to concentrate on transforming, but at first nothing happened. Then he tried a second time, he got close, but it still didn't work. With a determined huff, he then tried a third time.

"Come on Drake, you can do it!" His mother whispered encouragingly.

Drake concentrated as hard as his newborn brain could and, to everyone's astonishment, successfully turned into a human baby!

He was now a newborn human baby with his mother's naturally fair tan skin, perfect bone structure which was hidden by his baby fat, his dad's wrinkled nose and a mixture of their eyes with Logan's brown eyes and Chelsea's narrow eye placement and draconic look, and finally a head full of hair that was a dark mixture of gold and sandy blonde hair.

"Oh my goodness, he's so _cuuuuute~!_" Laura squealed quietly as she vibrated in glee.

Chelsea quickly picked up the new human Drake and pat Damian on the head. "Thank you Damian, you really helped him there." She smiled. Damian just laughed happily at being helpful.

The new Howlett family of four all gathered around as Sampson took out his camera to send a picture to the whole family.

"Alright you four. Smile for me." The Doctor said as everyone, sans Logan and Drake. The former not really being much of a smiler to begin with and the latter not knowing how to smile, did so as the camera took their picture.

It was a family, complete and happy, and they were all grateful for it. Nothing could be better for them right now.

**Dragon Emperor0: *Wipes eyes with a tissue* Ah I just love happy endings, especially for people who deserve it.**

**ThermalsniperN7: This was a happy ending they were long overdue for. They've more than earned this, the way I see it.**

**Dragon Emperor0: And now a new X-baby has been added to the roster, and on top of that, with this out of the way, it leaves us wide open to start the Soldier and the Cat Halloween special saga.**

**ThermalsnipN7: Aw yeah! Bring on the Halloween shenanigans!**

**Dragon Emperor0: And on top of that, after this saga, comes another that's really important: The Trial of Vampyr arc. Where Gavin's exploits in the Vampyr's Vendetta arc and X-men vs Gargoyles arc will come back to bite him in the ass via a trial held by none other than the All Father, Odin in Asgard.**

**ThermalsniperN7: And if my hunch is correct, something else is gonna go down behind the scenes. Question is: What?**

**Dragon Emperor0: Knowing Asgard? Probably something to do with Loki. As Overly Sarcastic Productions' Red would put it: "Loki isn't evil, he's a looney tunes antagonist."**

**ThermalsniperN7: Why is that **_**so **_**accurate?! *Clears throat* Anyway, things are about to get really exciting so stay tuned. See you guys in The Soldier and the Cat!**

**Dragon Emperor0: And Happy Halloween!**


	64. Chapter 64

**Chapter 64: The Cat and the Soldier pt. 1**

-_Xavier Institute, October 29th, 1999-_

It was late October at the Xavier Institute and all the current residents were excited for several reasons. One: Damian's second birthday was coming up. Two: Halloween was two days away. And three: It was going to be Drake's first Halloween followed by his first birthday being on November 1st.

However, two people in particular had different plans in mind. Johan and Bast were going to be spending the holiday with the soldier's family at their family home in Sleepy Hollow, New York. And the catwoman was thrilled to finally meet her boyfriend's family aside from Katerina.

Right now, Bast was busy talking about the trip with Chelsea while the blonde had her eight month old son in her lap looking at a few pictures of kids costumes.

"Are those… Beer and whiskey themed baby costumes?" The Arabic woman asked as she noted that the pictures were of different brands of alcohol.

"What? They're cute." Chelsea retorted indignantly. "Which do you like the most, Drake?" She asked the baby, who cheekily picked up a picture of a costume made to look like a bottle of Jack Daniels. Bast couldn't help but chuckle.

"Like mother, like son." She mused. "Anyway, I heard that Sleepy Hollow has quite a long history to it." The catwoman stated.

"Yeah, a big part of the Revolutionary War took place in its general area. Been a stomping ground for people whose family's been there since that time and veterans as well." The blonde nodded. "I spent a couple months there when I was still on the run."

"I hear it's also haunted." Bast added. This of course seemed to miraculously cause Gavin to pop out from behind the corner, with Damian on his shoulder.

"Did someone say haunted?" He asked immediately, his horror loving side kicking in.

"I did." The Gazan catwoman nodded. "Word is that a Hessian mercenary from the war got killed near Sleepy Hollow and now he haunts the place." She explained.

"The headless horseman, yeah." The pseudo vampire nodded. "Word is his family never left America after the war and settled in Sleepy Hollow. Maybe you should visit them and ask about him if you're curious?"

"I'll think about it." She shrugged.

"So, what's the little guy gonna be?" Chelsea and Gavin asked at the same time, which caused both babies in the room to giggle before their parents tickled their bellies.

"A bottle of Jack Daniels." The dragoness chuckled. Gavin stared at her for a moment before he chuckled.

"Like mother, like son." He mused, causing Bast to laugh.

"That's exactly what I said!" She exclaimed as she continued to laugh before she collected herself. "And what about Damian? I mean you gotta figure out something better than the blueberry costume you had him in last year." Bast stated as Gavin pulled out a picture of Damian in said costume.

"Oi, that costume was adorable and you know it!" The boy retorted defensively.

"I never said it wasn't." The medic shrugged. Though a few seconds later, she got a message on her phone. "It's Johan, we're supposed to be meeting Katerina and Romano at the airport in fifteen minutes. So I better get moving." She said.

"Go on, then. You and Romano have fun with the Severs." Chelsea said as she made a hand gesture telling her to get moving.

"We will." She replied as she went to go get her stuff.

(Elsewhere)

Katerina and Romano were waiting for their friend and brother before the Latino light manipulator saw the two approaching with their luggage.

"Here they come." He told the eldritch woman, getting her attention as she saw her brother heading their way with Bast in tow.

"Hey, guys. Are we in time for our flight?" Bast asked.

"Yeah." Katerina nodded. "Come on. Let's not keep our family waiting." She beckoned, prompting everyone to follow her.

As they boarded the plane, everyone kept looking at Bast. Ever since the Mutant Equal Rights act was passed, she started letting her tail be out and usually just kept her pointy elf-like ears covered by a keffiyeh head scarf, purely to keep people from bugging her about them.

Johan grabbed his girlfriend's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze to ease her nerves. She looked at him and smiled.

"I thought you said you weren't a fan of that custom." He noted, referring to the scarf she was wearing and the cultural weight behind it.

"I'm not, in fact I hate these stupid things and everything they stand for. But it's better than getting bugged about both my tail _and _my ears." She sighed.

"I keep telling you, you have nothing to worry about, especially with where we're going. And besides, you know I hate it when you hide those adorable ears of your's." He said with the second part being in a faux sad tone.

"Thanks, babe." She sighed happily as she closed her eyes and laid on his shoulder.

"My pleasure, sweetie." The soldier replied quietly with a smile as he relaxed and closed his eyes.

A few minutes later, a flight attendant brought them some food and something to drink. More specifically a bottle of decent wine and a tray of sashimi. The two took just enough for them and left plenty for everyone else. Johan took a sip of the wine and frowned slightly.

"Hm… Not for me." He decided. It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad, either.

"Same." Bast nodded.

"I could find one that's more to your liking if you wish." The attendant offered, handing them a small menu. The two shared a look before taking it and looking it over. After a moment, and finding nothing that interested them, they shook their heads.

"Nothing on here is to our interest. We'll settle for water." Bast said, getting a nod before the attendant poured them some cups of ice water. "So, what exactly can you tell me about your family?"

"Well, mom and dad are some seriously pro-Mutant rights supporters. They legitimately outright hate discrimination of all forms, and aren't afriand to show it. That's part of the reason I am who I am today." The green streaked man explained.

"And our family has a very long history of military service." Katerina added. "Our grandfather and great grandfather served in both world wars, we had several ancestors who fought in the wars of 1812 and Civil war, and our Dad and uncle Hansel both served in Afghanistan and Iraq." She continued.

"Seriously? It goes back _that _far? Man, you guys have some long roots." Romano commented with an impressed whistle.

"Yeah, tells us about it. No one quite serves the country like we do." Katerina chuckled.

"It's basically a family tradition." Johan nodded, though he noticed his girlfriend become slightly nervous. "What's wrong?"

"Do your dad and uncle… Have any preconceptions about people from the Middle East, ya know, because of what happened in those wars?" She asked.

"They did for a bit, but after a few years, they managed to get their acts together again. Those preconceptions of theirs are long gone." Katerina replied reassuringly, causing Bast to sigh in relief.

"Okay, I was actually a little scared there for a moment." She breathed.

The flight continued to stretch on for a few more hours with the two couples having casual conversations in between, right until they landed.

(Elsewhere)

Back at the Institute, Laura was currently trying to decide on what costume she'd be wearing. "So what do you think girls? Should I do Sexy Nurse? Or Playboy Bunny Girl?" The girl asked the other girls, showing them the costumes.

"I have no clue, but I think Logan and Chelsea would flip a table if they saw you in either of those…" Kitty trailed off before she deadpanned. "That's what you're going for, isn't it?" She asked blankly.

"I just want to look good." The girl shrugged.

"I'm not sure if either of those are appropriate for a girl of your age, Laura. After all, you're only sixteen." Ororo told her.

"You forget that I'm slightly more mature than other girls my age." The mini Wolverine replied flatly.

"She's got ya there, Storm." Tabitha chimed in.

"Kinda hard to argue with her on that account." Jubilee nodded.

"Still though, why choose these specifically?" Jean asked.

"Back when I was still running from place to place I used to do cosplay escorts from time to time for extra cash. I just like feeling sexy." The girl shrugged.

The rest of the girls looked at her with raised eyebrows before shrugging.

"I say do the Sexy Nurse." Kitty pitched in.

"Nah, do the bunny suit, it's sexy as hell." Tabitha retorted. Laura looked at the two and shrugged, deciding to go with the bunny suit.

Meanwhile with Gavin and Rogue, they were trying to let Damian choose his costume at the local store while Chelsea and Logan did the same for themselves.

"Okay little guy, what do you wanna be this year?" Gavin asked his soon to be two year old son.

Damian looked at the selection before noticing a gargoyle costume and remembering the gargoyle friends he has. Immediately, he pointed at it with a smile. His parents followed his finger and spotted his costume of choice and chuckled in amusement.

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." Rogue mused with a grin.

"Yeah, it doesn't surprise me, either." Gavin nodded with his own grin, kissing his girlfriend and son on the cheek as they got the costume.

Chelsea and Logan were looking for costumes of their own while Drake played with his favorite stuffed dragon while in his stroller.

"Hmmm… Hey Logan." The Dragoness said to her 'husband' as she took a costume off the hangers. "Since I lost all that baby weight, how about I dress up as Red Sonja…" She said as she held up a silver scale bikini with a matching wig. "And you dress up as Conan?" She added in a suggestive tone. Logan looked between her and the costume before he smirked.

"If you wanna do that, then I better find a Conan costume." He replied with a chuckle. Though he couldn't help but start mentally picturing her in the costume after all the trick or treating was said and done.

Drake meanwhile just yawned and snuggled with his dragon, Oolong, and fell asleep. His parents both smiled as they got their costumes and proceeded to the checkout.

(Elsewhere)

-_Sleepy Hollow, New York-_

The two couples were now in a cab as it drove them to the Sever family home, passing a century's old sign that read: "Welcome to Historic Sleepy Hollow Settled in 1640". After arriving, Johan paid the cab driver the appropriate amount before they grabbed their things and started walking to their residence for their stay. As they did, Bast and Romano took in the sights.

"Wow… Feels like I'm actually in the 1600s." The Latino light bender commented as they walked.

"Cobblestone roads, gas street lamps, a covered bridge… There's even buildings from that era still around, including a tavern." The catwoman nodded as she slowly took off her head scarf.

"Yep. Families like ours call this place home." Katerina said with a smile as she took a deep breath and exhaled. "And we love it." She added, still smiling.

"Damn right we do." Johan nodded with a grin. After a few minutes of walking, they came to a 1600s styled two story home with a sign saying 'Sever family home' on it.

"And here it is, the same home our family has lived in since 1742… Minus the past few times it's been rebuilt in that time." Katerina said proudly before adding the last part awkwardly.

"What happened to it the last few times? Fires get set to it?" Romano asked with a raised eyebrow.

"And cannon fire, and looting during the Whiskey Rebellion, floods, you name it." Johan nodded with a sigh. Shaking those thoughts away, he knocked on the door by using an old horse head shaped knocking ring. After a moment, footsteps were heard on the other side before a woman with caucasian skin, forest green eyes and black hair dressed in a plain green shirt, blue jeans and wearing a black jacket answered.

"Who's- JOHAN!" The woman started before realizing who it was and hugged him tightly. The green streaked man chuckled and hugged her back.

"Hi, mom." He said as he released the hug. Katerina immediately took his place eagerly.

"Miss me, mom?" She asked with a happy grin.

"You two haven't been home in over a year, of course I've missed you. Where have you been all this time? Has Fury really been keeping you that busy?" The woman asked.

"Yep. Being in charge of ensuring that the Mutant Equal Rights act is enforced kinda keeps a person away from home." The elder Sever sibling shrugged.

"Yes, I suppose so." The Sever matriarch sighed before noticing Bast and Romano. "Oh my, who are you two?" She asked.

"Romano Sanchez." Romano introduced himself.

"Fatima Qadir, but please, call me Bast." Bast introduced herself.

"Romano's my boyfriend." Katerina explained.

"And Bast is my girlfriend." Johan added.

"I'm Alice Sever, the mother of these two military prodigies." The now named Alice introduced herself while holding her grinning kids close.

"It's nice to meet you." Bast told her.

"Yeah. Same here." Romano nodded.

"Alright, come on in, you four and get settled in. Anton should be back soon." Alice beckoned. When they entered, the two guests noticed a few 1700 era decorations here and there.

"Wow. You guys have a really deep appreciation for the 1700s, don't you?" The catwoman noted.

"Oh yes. We have a lot of relics from back then." Alice nodded. "Come on, I'll show you to the guest rooms." She said, prompting Bast and Romano to follow her. The Sever siblings, meanwhile, went to their own rooms.

"Of course you're welcome to stay in my room if you want to do that, Bast." Johan told her.

"Same here, Romano." Katerina nodded. The two paused and looked thoughtful while the matriarch had a look on her face that said 'time to tease my kids!' Said kids instantly noticed it and felt dread well up in their stomachs.

'_Oh no…' _They thought.

"Oh, so it's at _that _level for both of you, is it?" The green eyed woman questioned with a teasing smirk. The cyborg and Cthulhu woman instantly started blushing.

"Mom! Cut it out!" They yelled as the front door could be heard to be closing.

"Alice! I'm home!" A voice called.

"Looks like your father's home." Alice smiled as she headed down stairs. The Sever siblings composed themselves before they went to greet their father, Bast and Romano following suit.

When they got downstairs again, they saw a man with dark brown hair with a matching beard, emerald green eyes, and a gruff looking appearance dressed in a heavy winter jacket over a plain black shirt, blue jeans and some military boots standing there.

"Welcome home, Anton, dear." Alice greeted the man, who the rest assumed was her husband.

"Miss us, old man?!" The eldritch daughter of the family called out with a grin, prompting the Sever patriarch to turn and smile upon seeing his kids standing there.

"Ha ha! Welcome back, you two!" The man laughed happily as he hugged his kids. He then turned his attention to the two guests. "These friends of yours?" He asked. The two SHIELD agents then pulled their respective romantic interests close.

"This is Bast, my girlfriend." Johan told his father, who widened his eyes in surprise.

"And this is Romano, my boyfriend." Katerina chirped, further surprising him.

"Well… Shit. Looks like the past year has been good to you two." Anton noted before noticing Bast's cat features and smirked teasingly. "Though with Johan, I'm not surprised considering the cat posters in his room." He commented offhandedly with a grin, causing said cyborg's face to turn beet red and Bast to look at him in surprise.

"DAMMIT, DAD!" He yelled in embarrassment. Though before anything else could be said, he felt something soft and furry brush against his leg. Looking down, the man saw a calico cat with long fur rubbing itself against him. "Cleo! There you are!" He said with a smile as he picked the cat up, and then for six kittens to tumble in behind it.

Bast looked at Cleo and smiled before presenting her hand for her to sniff. The calico mother looked at the hand and sniffed it for a moment before rubbing her head against it, prompting the catwoman to start petting her. Meanwhile, the kittens were all at Katerina's and Romano's feet, meowing cutely for their attention. The two looked at them with smiles before picking them up and giving them all the snuggles.

(Elsewhere)

Outside the Sever house in the dark of night, a fog rolled in and the sound of hooves running across the cobblestone roads could be heard as a figure on a dark horse walked up to the house. He was dressed in a German Hessian uniform and had a two headed battle ax on his hip, as well as a high collared long coat. His horse was as black as coal and had fiery red eyes and a flaming mane. And lastly… The man had no head, and was carrying a jackolantern in his right hand and the reins in his left.

This… Is the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. He regarded the house for a moment, his jackolantern taking on a thinking face before he turned and his horse reared up on its hind legs and let out a bellow before it and the horseman rode away from the house and into the night, the fog covering any trace of its existence.

**Dragon Emperor0: To this day, the story of Sleepy Hollow has got to be one of the most scary AF stories I've ever heard.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Nothing is more terrifying than seeing a headless Hessian riding on his horse towards you with a flaming pumpkin that's sporting the most evil look possible. *Shivers* That's actually enough to give me chills…**

**Dragon Emperor0: Yeah… So Damian's gonna be a gargoyle, Drake is gonna be a bottle of Jack Daniels, Chelsea and Logan are gonna be Red Sonja and Conan. And Laura is gonna be a playboy bunny… That's gonna be interesting. Also can we just point out how adorable it is that for his first Halloween Damian was a Blueberry?**

**ThermalsniperN7: That is easily the cutest thing imaginable. Blue skinned baby dressed as a blueberry… I rest my case.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. I wonder what's gonna happen next though? Well, guess we'll have to wait and see. Until then, see you guys next chapter!**


	65. Chapter 65

**Chapter 65: The Cat and the Soldier pt. 2**

-_Xavier Institute, October 30th, 1999-_

After everyone got their Halloween shopping done, they could now focus on getting ready for Damian's second birthday party, and they were extra excited since Drake would be able to join in festivities.

In fact, currently the blue skinned two year old was busy in the play pen with his friends Alex and Drake, while trying to teach The younger tykes to talk with… Varying degrees of success.

Alex was speaking pretty clearly but was unfortunately not able to speak in full sentences, and what little he could speak was pretty simple in comparison to Damian's vocabulary.

Drake on the other hand couldn't say two words in the same sentence without letting out small roars mid sentence.

All of this caused their friend and tutor to facepalm in exasperation. "_I'm surrounded by idiots." _He said to himself. Word to the wise, if a baby says they're surrounded by idiots, it'll shock you no matter who you are.

"What on earth is Damian doing?" Chelsea asked as she, Rogue, Amanda and Fox were chatting in the kitchen with Jean and Ororo.

"No idea. Probably baby things, or something." Rogue shrugged.

"So Rogue, since Gavin's business has been doing really well, I've been wondering, has he tried… ya know, popping the question?" Jean asked while dropping her voice to a whisper as to not draw the attention of everyone else in the other room. The southern girl blushed at the question but shook her head.

"No… Not yet." She replied.

"He hasn't mentioned anything to me about it." Amanda stated.

"Or Devin. He usually tells him everything, and then he usually tells me." Roxy added.

"He might be trying to surprise everyone." Rogue mused.

"Or maybe he doesn't feel ready to do that yet." The Shirakumo matriarch commented.

"Maybe…" The southern belle sighed. "I just hope he figures it out soon."

(Elsewhere)

_-Sever Family Home, Sleepy Hollow NY, 1999-_

Back with the Severs, the family was having breakfast with Bast and Romano with food that was brought to them courtesy of the neighborhood. Apparently this was a common occurrence since the family were outstanding members of the committee. As they talked, the topic shifted to things related to the childhoods of the siblings. Right now, the topic of discussion was…

"Wait wait wait, Johan did _what?!_" Bast asked with a laugh before she drank some water.

"Mom, don't you _dare _finish that story-!" The soldier tried to interrupt. He was dressed in casual wear consisting of a plain black shirt and dark blue jeans.

"-He just bolted right out the door… In a pink and white furry cat suit! It even had cat ears and a tail!" Alice finished with a massive grin, causing Bast to burst out laughing to the point she started banging her fist on the table before she started rolling around on the floor clutching her midsection as tears of amusement escaped her eyes. Johan could only groan as he put his face in his hands to hide his embarrassed face.

The story in question being? Apparently Johan's love for cats went back that far, and even got a furry cat suit for Halloween and didn't care about the colors. This happened when he was eight.

"Though unfortunately he ended up getting rid of it after our first cat, River, passed away. The suit looked almost identical to him so he didn't want to keep it around." Katerina added solemnly. It was true, but it was still sad. Bast stopped laughing and looked at her boyfriend with a sad face before she gave him a hug, which he reciprocated.

"I wish I could've met that cat. I would've snuggled with him." Romano said sadly. Katerina wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close.

"...So! Who wants to hear a story about Katerina?!" Alice asked, trying to get to a new topic and succeeded. Johan suddenly had an evil gleam in his eye.

"I know a good one…!" He said with a grin, causing his sister to give him a pointed look.

"Johan, don't you _dare _think about telling _that _story!" She warned. The eldritch girl was clothed in a forest green shirt, a grey hoodie, and black jeans that hugged her legs.

"Oh, you mean the time you stole three bowls of candy by shocking them stiff?" He chuckled. Romano instantly started snickering while his sister glared at him.

"How'd she manage that?" He asked.

"She made all of them think she was a sexy 20 year old and that she was naked." Johan replied. Romano's snickering evolved into chuckles.

"Was this in her early days as a mutant and she was still learning?" He asked with a grin.

"It was. The look on her face when we found out was priceless!" The soldier laughed while Katerina glowered at him.

"I actually took a picture! Here, take a look!" Anton said with a grin, taking out a picture and handing it to the light manipulator. Romano took it and his chuckles became full blown laughter when he saw his girlfriend's shocked look on the picture while also finding her childhood self adorable.

"_Not _cool guys!" The girl snapped angrily.

"So, what can you both tell us about yourselves? What were your family lives like?" Alice asked Bast and Romano.

"Well before I had to spend most of my life in HYDRA's clutches, I had to work three jobs in order to help me and my mom get by." Romano explained. "I tried reconnecting with her after I was freed, but… I found her in a hospital really sick with Pneumonia, luckily I was able to talk for a while but… she ended up dying a few weeks later." The man explained sadly.

Everyone looked at him sadly before his eldritch girlfriend pulled him into a comforting hug.

"My family life was.. Somewhat normal until my Mutant traits manifested, and then my dad threw me out of the house because of it. My family was very traditionally Muslim so they thought I was cursed for being disobedient. Though the rest of my family hated that it happened, so there's that." Bast started. "After I got free from HYDRA, I worked at various homeless shelters to try and lose them. When that phase of my life was over, I managed to reconnect with my family at Beverly Hills…" Here, she looked at Johan and smiled. "And met the man who I knew I could trust." She finished as she leaned into him. Johan just smiled and held her close.

"I'm assuming that your mother divorced your father and gained custody of your siblings?" Anton guessed.

"No, my father was killed in a suicide bombing during a pilgrimage to the holy land." Bast corrected. "Karma's a bitch, I guess. I don't really care where he is in the afterlife now. Though personally I hope he's in hell." She added with a shrug.

"I want to say something about disrespecting deceased family members, but I can't really come up with anything." Alice admitted as she scratched the side of her head.

"Well… I guess it kind of is karma…" Anton shrugged, unsure of what to say himself. He then scowled. "I still hate HYDRA, though." He added.

"Everyone in this house does." Johan commented flatly. "Though it is currently destroyed."

"How?" Alice questioned.

"It was destroyed by a boy who's going to the Institute I'm working at." Bast told her. "His name is Gavin Mathias-Vlad Shirakumo, aka Vampyr. An absurdly powerful mutant."

"Do I wanna know how absurdly powerful?" The patriarch of the family asked warily.

"He destroyed an entire base in one move, and has fought gods and won." Johan told him.

"... So the bottom line is HYDRA's no longer a thing?" The green eyed mother asked, choosing to ignore the part about him fighting gods for the moment.

"Yep." Katerina nodded. Alice then turned to her husband.

"Get the wine and sparkling water out, dear! Time for a late celebration of HYDRA's destruction!" She told him.

"Will do." Her husband nodded as he left to get said beverages.

"So Johan, are we still going to go on that carriage ride tonight?" Bast asked.

"Oh yeah. Nothing is getting in the way of that ride." Her boyfriend replied seriously. He had been looking forward to it for the longest time, and refused to let anything stop it from happening.

"Good." She smiled as she hugged his arm.

(Elsewhere)

In the woods outside of the town of Sleepy Hollow, a man in green armor with purple gloves, boots, and a cape was walking through them. Though what was really odd about him, was a glass dome that was over his head.

This was Winston Beck, aka Mysterio. Disgruntled magician, master of illusions and one of Spider Man's many _many _enemies.

"If the people of Sleepy Hollow believe the Headless Horseman is a myth, I will gladly prove them wrong." He muttered darkly.

Though as he said this he came up to an old and abandoned English church where a giant sickly looking willow tree stood in front of it. But before he could enter, the very same specter he spoke of came riding into his path. "**Leave this place now, Magician, or perish." **The horseman warned, brandishing his battle ax as fog rolled in behind him.

"I came here for a reason, and I will not leave until my goal is achieved." Mysterio declared as magic gathered in his hands.

"**Then you will burn in the depths of Hell!" **The horseman yelled as his horse reared up and bellowed before they changed at Mysterio with ax in hand.

(Later on, elsewhere)

With Bast and Johan, the two were currently riding in a carriage down the cobblestone streets of the town, enjoying the scenery and each other's company, with the catwoman holding her boyfriend's hand and purring as she nuzzled the man happily.

"The fact that you can purr is and always will be adorable. I love you so much, sweetheart." Johan sighed as he returned her nuzzles.

"I love you too, honey." His girlfriend purred in reply, her tail flicking and wrapping around his arm while he scratched the back of her pointed ears.

"I think it's really great that you and the others have finally been able to start normal lives." He told her. "... Did you ever find out what happened to your mother and brothers?"

"Yeah, we ended up getting along great. Chelsea was able to reconnect with her family, too. I'm not sure about Marcus, though." She nodded.

"That's good." The soldier nodded. The two continued to cuddle inside as the carriage ride went on, things couldn't be better.

(Elsewhere)

-_Midnight-_

At the same church where the Headless Horseman and Mysterio were fighting, it was one minute until midnight and the Horseman and his horse were both unconscious. Mysterio meanwhile was using his magic to carve a set of symbols on the trunk of the willow tree.

"Open, Gate to the realm of Dormammu!" The magician yelled as a hellflame portal opened and two people stepped out. The first was a woman with long black hair, porcelain skin, enchanting features and green eyes who was wearing black lipstick and eyeshadow and was in a green medieval dress. And the second was a ten foot tall purple armor clad demon with a burning head and glowing red eyes.

This was Dormammu, and the evil sister of King Arthur Pendragon, Morgan LeFey.

"Welcome to Earth, Dormammu and Morgana." The domed magician greeted the two.

"About time you made the portal, Winston. What took so long?" Morgan snapped while examining her long nails.

"The trek here, for starters. And I had to deal with the Horseman." He replied, jutting a thumb at the unconscious Hessian ghost and spectral steed.

"**That does not matter now, Morgana. What matters now is that we must start preparing for the lunar eclipse tomorrow night. For our plan to succeed, our timing must be perfect." **Dormammu told the two.

"Of course, milord." Morgan nodded.

"Soon we'll be ruling over a world where monsters are real, and Halloween lasts for eternity." Mysterio nodded.

"**Yes." **The Demon agreed.

(Elsewhere)

_-Xavier Institute-_

As everyone was cheering and laughing as Damian blew out his candles and everyone started eating ice cream cake (Alex, Damian and Drake deciding to be messy again). Goliath suddenly seemed to get an ominous feeling in his bones, as did the rest of the Gargoyles.

"Did you feel that, lad?" Hudson whispered to the purple Gargoyle.

"Indeed, it feels as though there has been a surge in magic, though I know not where." Goliath nodded.

"You think it's Demona?" Brooklyn asked.

"It's possible, but unlikely, what with her working with Magneto and all." Lexington put in.

"Let's just hope it's nothing serious." Broadway said, getting nods in return.

"You said it, Broadway." Angela nodded, who was looking at Bronx, who was currently licking all three of the baby's faces clean.

Alisa noticed how her friend's demeanor had changed and decided to see what was up. There was definitely something going down right now.

(Elsewhere)

In one of Magneto's many hideouts, Demona was currently speaking with the Master of Magnetism.

"You're certain they'll try tomorrow night?" He asked the female gargoyle.

"Yes. The timing is unmistakable. If it happens tomorrow night, the world will be trapped in a never ending Halloween." Magneto nodded seriously.

"And you seem unenthusiastic about it." The man noted.

"While I will admit that this new world would be a haven for my kind, I would much rather live here in secret than live in a world under the heels of Mysterio, Morgan LeFey and Dormammu." The red haired gargoyle woman stated firmly.

"I'm sure that Goliath will agree with that statement." The magnetic man nodded.

(Elsewhere)

Limping through the fog of night and with his steed in tow, the horseman continued to move on in hopes of finding a patch of hallowed ground to rest at and regain his strength.

Though he soon did find one, and both he and his trusty mount both collapsed in front of the space between two tombs at a local cemetery. The tomb of one Ichabod Crane and one of none other than the Horseman's own family… The Severs.

As the two spectral figures rested, an ethereal flaming Harley Davidson motorcycle rolled up to the cemetery, and its rider watched the two intently. The rider in question was a leather biker garb clad flaming skeleton with glowing eye sockets and chains wrapped around his body.

This was Johnny Blaze, aka the Ghost Rider. "**... So, you're still kicking, old man." **The Rider said as he slowly rolled towards the sleeping horse and horseman.

**Dragon Emperor0: Man, everyone's turning out this Halloween aren't they? First the horseman, then Mysterio, then Morgan LeFey and Dormammu, and now the Ghost Rider? Who's next? Mephisto?**

**ThermalsniperN7: I dunno, but this is gonna be one hell of a Halloween for the Severs and company. Also… Just… Can we just acknowledge that Johan has the goofiest eight year old Halloween costume ever? It's hilarious how someone so badass can have something like that in his childhood!**

**Dragon Emperor0: No kidding, and to be completely honest I half expected Katerina to have dressed up in the skimpiest thing possible. Like a string bikini or something.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Nah. What she did happened when she was somewhere around nine or ten. Stuff like that wouldn't have come to her until MUCH later. And then there's Johan and Bast's carriage ride… I find it absolutely adorable that our resident catwoman is basically putty in her man's hands.**

**Dragon Emperor0: Why wouldn't she? Johan's been nothing but supportive of her and while other people always ridiculed her for how she looks, he loves that part about her. These two are just like Rogue and Gavin almost.**

**ThermalsniperN7: True. I wonder how they'll deal with the developing situation... Only one way to know. Anyway, see you guys next chapter!**

**Dragon Emperor0: Have a good Devils Night!**


	66. Chapter 66

**Chapter 66: The Cat and the Soldier pt. 3**

-New York City, Queens, October 31st, 1999-

Laura was standing in front of the house of May Parker with her costume in hand, waiting for her friends Ronni Ann and Peter to meet her there so they could map out their Trick or Treating routes. She was never really into the holiday back when she was an emotionless drone for HYDRA, but ever since she was able to experience everything around her like a normal kid would? She loved the holiday.

Her musings were interrupted of course when Ronni Ann came running up to her, Peter and his team from SHIELD (in civilian attire) following close behind.

"Hey guys! Glad you could make it!" Laura said with a smile.

"Yeah, sorry it took so long." Peter panted.

"Peteie over here wanted to take the long way around to avoid running into his ex and best friend." Sam explained.

"Okay, that makes sense." The metal clawed girl nodded.

"So, are we gonna map out our routes or what?" Luke asked.

"Sure, I even got a couple maps." Laura nodded as Peter led them inside his aunt's house. They were soon met by May, who was a relatively young looking woman for one who was sixty five. "Hey, Mrs. Parker." She greeted the elder.

"Well hello Laura, it's good to see you again." The woman smiled. "Anyone want any pumpkin spice and chocolate chip cookies? I just finished baking a batch." She added with a smile while taking off her oven mitts.

"Oh, those sound amazing." Ava said, drooling slightly as the smell hit her nostrils with Laura copying her actions due to her enhanced nose.

"Thanks aunt May." Peter smiled as they all sat down and started planning their routes. However just as May was about to bring them the cookies…

She froze and a portal appeared beside her, and a man in a blue set of almost Tibetan monk attire, and red high collared cloak, yellow hand wraps, boots, and a golden eye amulet floated towards them. The man had short black hair with grey at the bottom, brown eyes, Caucasian skin, a mustache and a goatee. He almost kind of looked like Benedict Comberpatch.

This was Dr. Stephen Stange, or simply Dr. Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme.

"What the-? Dr. Strange? What are you doing here?" Peter questioned. The man turned to him and answered.

"I sensed a large spike of magic energy. The general location is New York state, but feel like I'm getting closer to the source." He explained.

"Okay, do you know who might be causing it?" The boy questioned.

"Unfortunately no, however I do have a suspicion or two…" The man said before he noticed both Laura and Ronni Ann. "Are these new teammates of yours?"

"Nah. One of them is a friend from school while the other is my… Well she's also a friend." The web slinger shrugged in reply, though almost slipping up by calling Laura his 'girlfriend'.

"Hmmm. Well in any case, stay vigilant. After all, this is All Hallows' Eve. When it comes to the supernatural, anything can happen." Strange told them as he disappeared and May started moving again.

"Here you go kids, enjoy!" The woman smiled as if nothing happened.

(Elsewhere)

_-Xanatos Tower, same time-_

Owen and Xanatos were both reviewing the very same spikes in magical energy that Dr. Strange had picked up, right as Gavin had stepped out of the elevator with Damian and Drake in his arms (Drake had wanted to start going with them). But there was someone else with him, a red haired woman with almost dark brown eyes, red lips, and she was wearing a red business suit.

"Is something happening? You two seem rather focused on that monitor." The pseudo vampire asked.

"Magical readings have been spiking since midnight last night… but there's no indication as to why or how…" Xanatos said before taking notice of the woman in the room. His expression turned serious as soon as he recognized her. "Hello, Demona." He greeted the Gargoyle in disguise.

Gavin immediately backed away and shielded both babies from her, Drake letting out draconic hisses and Damian sticking his tongue out at her.

"Why are you here?!" The vampiric father hissed.

"Investigating the same magic spikes." Demona replied before turning to Xanatos. "Where are they originating from?" She then inquired.

"According to my map, Sleepy Hollow, New York state." Xanatos explained. Gavin perked up upon hearing that.

"Wait, that's where Johan and Katerina took Bast and Romano to meet their parents." He said.

"Magneto and I have reason to believe that it is Dormammu and Morgan LeFey who is behind it. And they are being helped by a magician known as Mysterio." Demona explained.

"Oh dear, that's not good at all." Owen sighed.

"What could they be planning?" Gavin asked.

"Magneto and I suspect that they're likely trying to make Halloween eternal so monsters of the dark can roam freely and turn everyone into the very thing they're dressed as." The red haired Gargoyle explained. "While it would sound ideal for my kind, being under their heels is not something I want." She added.

"That's gonna be a problem." Gavin said as he set Damian and Drake down with Alex, who Fox had just brought in. "Okay, How do we stop them?" He asked.

(Elsewhere)

_-Sleepy Hollow Cemetery-_

The Ghost Rider slowly approached the Horseman and the spectral steed of said Horseman was the first to notice him and it let out an aggressive snort at the approaching skeleton. The biker turned to address the steed.

"**Relax. I'm not here for a fight." **He told the horse.

The horseman slowly came to and sat up, clutching his jack o'lantern head in his hands. "**What are you doing here, Xarathos?" **He questioned.

"**I've been sensing magic spikes since yesterday at midnight. Figured I'd check it out. Know anything?" **The rider questioned.

"**Yes, actually. It is Dormammu's doing. A magician opened a portal to summon not just him, but also Morgan LeFay." **The Hessian ghost explained.

"**Both of them? Damn it, this is going to be such a headache." **The leather clad skeleton sighed.

"**The portal is carved in the trunk of the Willow Tree in front of the old church. We may need help to deal with it." **The Horseman added.

"**Any ideas?" **The Rider questioned.

"**One." **The German Dullahun nodded.

(Elsewhere)

In the local town tavern, the Sever family and their respective guests were enjoying a family meal of food that had been a staple of the menu since the 1700s, including various forms of German beer and food.

"This is an experience I will never forget." Romano sighed happily as he took a sip of beer.

"It does feel nice to be together as a family again." Katerina nodded.

"You said it, sis, I've really missed this." Johan agreed as he ate some mashed potatoes.

"It really is great." Bast smiled. "I haven't been this happy since I had Christmas dinner with my mom and brothers."

"You'll be getting more moments like this for years to come, Bast. Trust us." Anton told his potential daughter in law as he ate his steak.

"You said it honey." Alice nodded.

"So… Do you guys know which one of your ancestors was the first to settle here in America?" The cat woman asked.

"Well as far as we're aware, our earliest ancestor first came here during the 1770s as a mercenary during the war and his family settled here in Sleepy Hollow after he died in battle and was buried in the cemetery not far from here." Anton explained.

"Huh. That's one kind of origin a family can have." Romano mused, a little surprised that it was a mercenary and not a traditional soldier.

"Judging by the fact that you guys are German… It was a Hessian, right?" Bast guessed.

"Got it one." Johan nodded.

"Huh, that's interesting, since back then the Hessians were fighting against America, I wonder what made them change their mind to have so many generations of service to the country?" Bast questioned.

"We're not entirely sure since we never actually figured out which Hessian's family it was that settled down here." Alice inputted with a confused tone. "It still confuses us to this day." She added.

"Huh…" The Arabic cat nodded.

(Elsewhere)

At the abandoned church in the middle of the woods, Dormammu was currently making his minions: The Mindless Ones, built a large stone structure around the church similar to that of Stonehenge, only forming a complete circle. And Morgan was creating an Obsidian-black glass table in the center as a sort of altar. Mysterio was carving symbols into the pillars with his magic.

"It's nearly complete." Morgan told them.

"Yeah. What will we need to do next in order to complete the spell?" Mysterio asked.

"**We will need three things: The eye of Agamotto which is in the hands of my enemy Dr. Strange. The preserved entrails of a Bull, Eagle, Lion, Ram, and Serpent. And finally, a living virgin man and woman, for the sacrifice in order to complete the spell." **Dormammu told him.

"I'll see about the living virgin man and woman." Mysterio nodded, not that anyone could tell with that dome of his.

"I'll handle the preserved entrails." Morgan added.

"**And I shall acquire the Eye of Agamotto, **_**personally**_**." **Dormammu added as all three of them disappeared.

(Elsewhere)

As Damian played with his two friends, The X-men, Acolytes, Xanatos, Fox, Owen, Gargoyles, and even the Pack, we're all convening to discuss on how to deal with the current situation.

"I don't get it, what's so bad about having an eternal Halloween? If ya ask me it sounds like fun." Hyena asked.

"It's who would be ruling that world we should be concerned about." Demona stated.

"You mean Dormammu and that Morgan LeFey chick? What's so bad about them?" Asked Jackal, who was promptly smacked in the back of the head by Wolf.

"One is a demon and the other is King Arthur's evil sister, ya moron. That should be self explanatory." He told him.

"And what about this Mysterio guy?" Logan questioned.

"He's one of my usual villains." Peter piped up. "He's an illusionist."

"And also a magician, apparently." Xanatos added. "Now if we only knew what ritual he was doing…" He sighed.

"I believe I may have an idea." Dr. Strange said as he suddenly appeared in the room, holding a spell book. "The Eternal Hallowing Night spell. It requires the person to sacrifice a virgin man and woman at midnight on a lunar eclipse during all Hallow's Eve, and it must be done with this: The All Seeing Eye of Agamotto." He explained, holding up his amulet. "They will need the preserved entrails of a Bull, Eagle, Lion, Ram and Serpent." He continued, getting green faces from some of them.

"So they're going to kill an innocent couple just to get what they want? That's sick." Laura spat.

"Not to mention underhanded." Gambit added.

"At least we know where they're doing the ritual." Gavin stated, getting Strange's attention.

"Where?" He asked.

"Sleepy Hollow." The boy replied, getting a nod in return.

(Elsewhere)

Back in Sleepy Hollow, Romano and Bast were walking back to the Sever family home in their costumes as the sun began to set. Romano was dressed up as a pilot and Bast was a very sexy nurse.

"Johan's probably gonna have a hard time keeping his hands off of you when you're in that, you know." Romano chuckled.

"Probably, but then again, he really can't control himself around me normally either." The cat woman shrugged. The two kept walking but as they did they noticed that the path kept getting longer and longer, and darker and darker until they found themselves in a black void.

"What the hell?! What's going on?!" The light manipulator questioned in alarm as he looked around. Bast instinctively deployed her claws as her tail puffed up. Romano tried to conjure some light to see, but to no avail. The two kept trying to find a way out until the void disappeared and they found themselves standing in the now complete ritual sight.

Morgan was waiting for them, and with a snap of her fingers she had them chained up and then had her goblin minions chain them to the table.

"Now my minions, strip them. They won't need those clothes when we're through with them." Morgan ordered, snapping her fingers again.

Bast and Romano's eyes widened in fear as they were stripped by the creatures.

'_Johan/Katerina, save us!' _They pleaded in their thoughts.

(Elsewhere)

Johan and Katerina were in the middle of looking for their respective lovers, also dressed in their costumes. The soldier being a doctor and his sister being dressed as a sexy flight attendant.

"Where the fuck did they go?" Katerina wondered as they kept searching.

"I dunno, but I keep getting this really bad feeling in my gut, and I don't like it." Johan said with a frown. As they crossed the covered bridge, they heard the telltale sound of horse hooves and the sound of a motorcycle from behind them, making them pause and look back.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" The green streaked man called out.

And then they saw them, the Headless Horseman and the Ghost Rider both approaching them on their respective rides.

"No way…!" Katerina gasped.

"I thought they were just stories…!" Johan breathed, eyes wide.

"**We are **_**very**_ **real." **Ghost Rider told him as he and the Horseman stopped in front of them.

"**And we need your help." **The Hessian ghost added, causing the siblings to frown.

"Our help? With what?" The eldritch woman questioned.

"**One of the lord's of the nine hells, Dormammu, is in the process of enacting a ritual that will plunge this world into an eternal Halloween." **Ghost Rider told them.

"**He has two of the needed components, now he only lacks the Mystical Eye of Agamotto." **The Horseman added.

"What components does he already have?" Johan questioned, his bad feeling growing worse. '_Please don't let it be what I think it is…!' _He pleaded in his head.

"**The entrails of several animals and two living virgins, one male and another female. Both have to be sacrificed tonight for the spell to work." **The Rider told him. This immediately made alarms go off in the sibling's heads as they bristled in rage.

"How dare they… How _dare _they try to do that to the people we care about most!" Katerina growled as eldritch energy crackled around her body, realizing what had happened to Romano and Bast.

"They'll all bleed for this!" Johan exclaimed murderously, coming to the same conclusion his sister had. "If you want our help, you got it!" He told the riders.

"**Then let us haste!" **The horseman told them as the siblings mounted up before they rode off into the night.

(Elsewhere)

Back at Xanatos tower, everyone now laid all over the place unconscious as Dormammu stood over an unconscious Dr. Strange with the Eye of Agamotto in his large hand.

"**Now this world will be plunged into an eternal Halloween." **He said with a malevolent grin. With that he opened a portal and arrived at the ritual sight, with Morgan setting the different entrails at the corners of the table surrounding the now nude Romano and Bast, who were in the center of a double pentagram. "**It is nearly midnight, let us begin the ritual." **He told his two partners.

"Of course." Morgan nodded, pulling out a black glass knife as the symbols around her and on the table started to glow red as the blood moon reached its peak. Speaking in incantations, she started chanting in an occult language as the Eye of Agamotto floated above them and bathed the two chained sacrifices with a red light, and then the wicked sister of King Arthur brought her knife down… and stabbed Bast first.

"GACK!" She got out as blood seeped from the wound, running down onto the table and seeping into it. Next was Romano and the same thing happened, and their blood slowly floated up until it formed a blood beam that was sent towards the moon and then started surrounding the Earth in a blood red dome.

All across the world everyone started transforming into whatever they were dressed as that year, and monsters of all sorts started appearing everywhere.

(Elsewhere)

"Are we close to it yet?" Katerina questioned the Ghost Rider.

"**Nearly." **He replied.

"We better pick up the pace because the sky just got a bit more red." Johan said, noting the more red appearance of the sky. '_None of those demons will be safe from us!' _He exclaimed in his head angrily.

"**By the way, don't worry about the effects of the ritual. Because of what you two dressed up as, your minds will be unchanged." **The Horseman told the siblings. This caused them to relax a bit.

"Good… actually, I think I feel a little extra horny… more than usual." Katerina said quietly.

"**I heard that." **The leather clad skeleton said suddenly, causing her to blush in embarrassment.

"**There it is." **The Horseman told them as they arrived at the ritual site, and both siblings saw that their lovers were bleeding out.

"That's it! All of them die!" Katerina growled as her eldritch energy gathered in her hands.

"Damn straight they do!" Johan growled in agreement as he drew a pair of magnums.

"**Destroy them!" **Dormammu ordered his Mindless ones. The minions charged forward and were met with the rage of two angry Sever siblings accompanied by two spectres. Johan shot two of the Mindless ones in the head and shot another four in their necks before leaving them to choke on their own blood. Katerina sent lethal blasts of eldritch energy at several groups of the minions and a few of those blasts nearly hit the ritual site, nearly cancelling it.

"Cthulhu! Get Bast and Romano out of here, now!" Johan yelled as he was joined in fighting with the Horseman who had his ax in hand.

"On it!" The woman yelled as she assumed her Cthulhu form and flew over the minions to the two chained lovers of theirs.

"K… Katerina…? Is that… you…?" Romano asked weakly, his blood loss worsening. Bast managed to turn her head to look at her as well.

"Save your strength, both of you! I'm getting you two out of here!" The woman told them as she destroyed their chains, which were made of Earth metal, conveniently. She then grabbed them and flew away from the ritual site, much to Dormammu's anger. He tried to blast her out of the sky, but she evaded each shot sent her way.

"**Dormammu." **Ghost Rider said as the demon lord turned to him. "**Face your penance!" **He yelled as he activated his signature move: The Penance Stare. The demon king screamed in agony as the every last soul he had wronged came back to haunt him mercilessly. After a moment of this, he collapsed to the ground, his eyes charred black.

Morgan was in the middle of getting beaten by Johan and the Horseman, and Mysterio was trying his best to help her out, but it wasn't going so well as Johan shot him in the leg.

"I'm going to kill you!" The soldier yelled as a righteous fury filled his heart.

"You think… you… can succeed… where my… brother failed...?! Don't make… me laugh!" She panted, her injuries forcing her to one knee.

"Oh, I don't think, I _know!_" Johan growled before he fired a shot into her stomach, causing her to gasp in pain before the Horseman chopped an arm off, causing her to scream in pain.

"**Allow me to take it from here." **Ghost Rider told them as he wrapped the witch in his Hell chains.

"No, please, mercy!" Morgan begged.

"**Sorry, all out of mercy." **The skeleton told her. Morgan screamed in sheer agony as she was turned to stone by the chains before the biker yanked in it, making her fall apart. Mysterio watched this unfold and seethed in rage.

"You bastards! You ruined everything!" He yelled, drawing their ire as they glared at him.

"Good, that means we're doing something right!" Johan retorted. He then marched up to him and ripped his helmet off and shattered it.

It revealed just an ordinary man underneath. Johan then pointed his gun at his head. "Any last words, Winston Beck?" He growled.

"My dream was the one the world needed to have fulfilled." He stated, growling as he did so.

"No it wasn't." The cyborg shot back before he pulled the trigger, sending brain matter all over the ground as the man's body collapsed. He then turned to the riders. "Can this damned ritual be undone?" He asked them.

"**Only way I can think of is closing the Eye of Agamotto… or destroy it." **The Rider told him.

"I doubt we can close it, so we'll have to likely settle for destroying it." Johan sighed. As he readied his magnums with fresh ammo, though…

"Stop!" A voice called as everyone turned to see the X-men and the others coming their way. And they were all turned into what they were dressed as, even Damian who became a baby gargoyle and Drake was somehow stuck in a whiskey bottle. Doctor Strange was the only one unaffected.

"I can see that the ritual got to you guys." The soldier noted.

"Who were the sacrifices for this whole thing?" Gavin, who had turned into, unsurprisingly, Dracula asked.

"Bast and Romano were used… The ones responsible are dead now and Katerina got them to safety to get treated." Johan replied, causing everyone to let out sighs of relief.

"Well we need to get this stupid curse down now." Chelsea, who was in her Red Sonja scale bikini in the cold weather, stated as she leaned against a bare chested Logan for warmth.

"**I assume you have a means to undo all this, sorcerer?" **The Horseman asked Strange, drawing several sets of wide eyes to him.

"... You know, after all that's happened tonight, him existing seems kinda normal." Logan shrugged, getting a few nods of agreement.

"That I do. It is a complex but effective reversal spell." Strange nodded. "Ghost Rider I will need your hell chains to assist me in this endeavor." He spoke to the rider.

"Then go on ahead. I still need to get back to Bast." Johan beckoned. Strange and Ghost Rider then moved under the glowing Eye of Agamotto and then began the spell.

"I call upon the crimson crystal chains of Cytorrak!" The sorcerer supreme yelled as red glowing chains shot out and wrapped themselves around the eye, and Ghost Rider did the same with his own chains.

"**Alright, PULL!" **The bounty hunter yelled as he began pulling. Everyone else started joining in and started pulling with all their might in a bid to break the amulet's connection to the moon, and it continued for several minutes until… it finally gave way. The red of the sky immediately began to fade as everyone turned back to normal. Everyone who was turned into something else that wasn't human began to look themselves over and sighed in relief when they saw that they were back to their old selves.

"Normal again." Gavin sighed as he held Damian and kissed Rogue.

"Yeah. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to check on Bast and Romano and make my little sis stop worrying about me." Johan said before turning to the Horseman. "Mind giving me a lift back to town?" He asked.

"**But of course." **The figure 'nodded'.

"Come on guys, let's go see if they're okay." Chelsea told them, currently really worried about her best friends as the horseman left.

Off to the side, Laura was adjusting the chest area and ass area of her bunny girl suit, which squeezed her C-cup chest and plump ass very snuggly.

"Even with the spell gone, it didn't do much to get rid of how horny I feel…" She whispered ruefully, though it was partially heard by Logan.

"What'd you say?" He asked, causing his daughter to stiffen slightly.

"N-nothing!" She squeaked. Her father just let out a silent scoff as he shrugged before the X-men and Gargoyles went to check on their friends, and the Acolytes, Pack and Ghost Rider went elsewhere.

(Later)

"Anything?" Chelsea asked as her father continued to monitor the two after they came from surgery.

"Both suffered severe knife wounds, but luckily I was able to seal the wounds, though they've lost a lot of blood." Sampson told her, which made her, Marcus, Pele, Kai, and the Sever siblings all gain worried expressions.

"Will they recover from it?" Johan asked worriedly, fearing for his girlfriend's life with Katerina in the same boat with Romano.

"I was able to get them transfusion bags, so they should be fine with a bit of rest for the transfusion to finish. Though only time will tell." He told the man.

"... C-can we see them now?" The eldritch woman asked.

"Yes, they're fine for visitors." The doctor nodded. The group walked in and the Sever siblings felt their hearts crack when they saw their lovers in their current state.

"I'm so sorry Bast, I should have been there for you." The soldier whispered as he hugged her face close to his.

"Romano… I'm so _so_ sorry I didn't get to you sooner." Katerina whimpered sadly as she rested her head on his right hand, tears pouring down her face.

Everyone looked at the scene before them and prayed that everything would be better in the morning.

(The next morning)

Bast groaned as she opened her eyes and closed them upon registering the sunlight pouring into the room. After waiting for her eyes to adjust, she looked around and found herself in a hospital bed. Her eyes then landed on Romano, who was also coming to. She also noticed Katerina asleep at his bedside before feeling another presence close to her. Turning to her right, she saw her boyfriend with his head on a desk. She looked at his face and saw that there were dry tear tracks running down from his eyes.

'_He was crying for me…' _She realized, feeling her heart ache at the pain he himself had suffered. Tentatively, she placed an arm on his shoulder and shook him awake gently. Stirring, the man opened his eyes and blinked away as his eyes adjusted. He then looked at his girlfriend… And all grogginess immediately went away when he registered that she was awake. Without a word, he all but threw himself at her and sobbed into her shoulder, relieved that she was okay.

"Shhhh. Shhhh. It's okay. I'm here." She cooed quietly, trying to calm his nerves as she held him close.

"I thought I was going to lose you…! I was so scared!" Johan sobbed, tightening his hold on her like she was a lifeline.

With Romano, Katerina was bawling into his chest in relief that he was fine while the light mutant comforted her.

"You're okay! You're actually okay!" She cried in joy.

"Don't worry. I'm not leaving you, honey." Romano told her as he kissed her forehead, causing her to tighten her grip on him, as if fearing that he'll fade away if she lets go.

"You better not." She snapped. A couple minutes later, everyone else made it down to the med bay to see them, and a wave of relief washed over all of them.

"Bast, Romano!" Pele and Kai cried as they ran to the two and hugged them, who were soon followed by Marcus and Chelsea.

"You two gave us the mother of all scares! _Never_ do that again!" The Dragoness tried to scold them, but failed due to the tears running from her eyes.

"Yeah. All of us were scared out of our wits when we learned all the details of what happened." Marcus told them.

"No offense guys, but it feels like Johan and Katerina were the most terrified." Bast replied, the siblings in question starting to reign in their emotions with varying degrees of success.

"I'm just glad it's all over." Gavin sighed.

"Yeah, and just in time for Drake's first birthday too!" Laura smiled while holding her currently squirming one year old little brother.

"Wonder if we can find some Sleepy Hollow baby merchandise…" Chelsea mused.

"I know a few places." Johan piped up, finally calming his nerves.

"You stay here with Bast. You stay here with Romano too, Katerina. We'll ask your parents to show us around." The Dragoness told them. If she was being honest, the siblings deserved to spend every available minute they could spare with them.

"Alright, I guess we'll see you guys later?" Bast asked tiredly.

"Yeah, we'll be back in time for the birthday party, so it'll be fine." The blonde told her.

"Okay." The two couples nodded. The rest of them then left for the Sever household to ask the parents of the siblings to show them around town. Now that the couples were alone, the cyborg and eldritch woman climbed into the beds of their respective lovers and snuggled with them, the four relishing the presence of each other.

**Dragon Emperor0: Man that was a real scare for a second there. Sorry we're late on the upload guys, I ended up falling asleep halfway through writing this chapter last night.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, it left me feeling a little miffed. Still, MAN Johan and Katerina were Doomslayer level pissed off! I've never seen that level of brutality aside from the Doomguy himself!**

**Dragon Emperor0: No kidding. And sorry about miffing you, I honestly didn't realize I had fallen asleep until it was too late.**

**ThermalsniperN7: It's fine. At least we got it done. Anyway, see you guys next time!**


	67. Chapter 67

**Chapter 67: Latverian Lockdown**

It was late November and everyone was gearing up for two things: Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Everyone was finally able to relax after the fiasco that was Halloween over a month ago and needless to say they were all pretty well off considering.

Speaking of which, Johan was currently carrying a few boxes into the house that he had bought in Bayville. The boxes weren't his, however, they were Bast's. The cat woman had decided that since they'd been dating for little over a year that they should move in together and help the Institute free up some space.

"Feeling excited about moving in?" The soldier asked his girlfriend.

"Yeah, it'll be nice to finally not be in a place that's so crowded." Bast nodded as she grabbed a box. "This should be the last one, it has all my… Night time gear." She told him with a purr. Johan looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Someone's obviously looking forward to that." He remarked, getting a giggle in return.

"I know _you _are, but what about me?" She teased as she stroked his chin with her tail as she walked away. The man subconsciously rubbed where her tail stroked him before he grinned.

'_You are in for one hell of a treat when it's time.' _He thought as he walked after her.

(Elsewhere)

Similarly, Katerina was currently helping Romano move into her place as well, with the help of their other mechanic friend Bronson, who was kind enough to lend them his truck.

"Ya know, I'm a little curious about why you and Johan don't live together." Bronson commented as he helped move a box.

"We might be siblings, but hey, we can't stay together all the time. Even we need some time apart." The eldritch woman shrugged, picking up a box of fragile items.

"Fair enough." Romano shrugged as he picked up another box. As they walked, Katerina smirked at him.

"Feeling excited about moving in with your sexy eldritch girlfriend?" She teased.

"Assuming she won't go inviting random guys in when I'm not around? Sure." He nodded with a knowing look.

"Trust me when I say that it was grilled into me that when I find the man for me, I'm sticking with him. Period." She replied before she shivered. "Johan helped make that clear." She added.

"So you're gonna forcibly break your habit, then?" Bronson noted.

"Pretty much." Nodded the brunette mutant.

Though at both locations, both Johan and Katerina's phones rang. It was a call from Director Nick Fury and Deputy Director Maria Hill respectively.

"Agent Omni/Cthulhu speaking." They unknowingly replied in unison.

"_Agent Omni/Cthulhu, we have a situation." _The two Directors told them.

"What is it?" The siblings replied.

(Elsewhere)

Right around the same time as the call, Magneto and the Acolytes had just cornered Mesmero, who had hypnotized Gambit into stealing an artifact from Warren aka Angel.

"Magneto, we must not let Mesmero get away with that stone! It's the Spider Stone Key, one of the three keys to Apocalypse's sealed gates." Demona told the Master of Magnetism.

"Then we'll capture him and the key." He declared as he used some parts of Warren's fence to create a rather crude cage. "Release your mental hold on Gambit, now." He ordered.

Mesmero tried to use his powers on Magneto, but was met with the cage tightening as they had no effect.

"Your psychic blasts have no effect on me." The man taunted. He then turned to the others as Gambit was released. "Come, we have work to do. And Demona?" He said to his comrades before addressing the female gargoyle directly.

"Yes?" She responded.

"When daytime arises, use your human form to ascertain more information about this key. Seek help from Charles or Xanatos if need be, I don't care. Just find out more about it." He told her.

"Of course." She nodded before spreading her wings and flying away.

Magneto then turned to Warren and used a metal sheet to lift him back into his house. "I do apologize Warren, it seems I've caused you much trouble." He apologized to the unconscious man as he left him in his bed.

(The next day)

Back at the Institute, everyone was outside playing baseball and having a great time, even Bronson joined in as an assistant umpire, while Chelsea was playing left field and was dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt while Drake and Damian watched the match from the sidelines with Rogue.

First up to bat was Bobby, and the pitcher was Jean while Scott was the catcher. "Come on, Jean! Strike this guy out!" Scott called.

"Oh, I'll strike him out alright." Jean nodded as she telekinetically threw the ball. Bobby, meanwhile, decided to ice up his bat for extra impact.

"Here we go…" Beast sighed. With one swing he sent the ball flying and it went straight for left field which Laura, Kai, Jamie and Pele all ran towards until they crashed into each other and the Ball bounced off of Laura's adamantium skull with a comical anime 'boing' sound. This gets a few laughs from Peter and his crew who were waiting for their turns to bat.

"That was kinda funny, not gonna lie." Sam commented.

"No kidding!" Laughed Ava.

The game continued like this for awhile with everyone using their powers in some capacity to get ahead, even Devin uses his to hit a home run by making a bat, Gavin used his smoke telekinesis to move the ball so no one caught it, and Roxy dug under the bases to avoid getting tagged. Hell, even Chelsea used her dragon form to swat her ball almost into orbit…. Though it just ended up bonking Damian and Drake on their little heads at the same time by mistake. That stunt of her's got a few annoyed glares aimed at her as Gavin and Logan tried to help the two infants.

"He he. Sorry." She chuckled sheepishly as both of the kiddos rubbed their heads in annoyance. Though their game was interrupted when Angel landed on the pitcher's mound, and he was followed by Brownie who he apparently woke up with his flapping.

"Warren? What are you doing here?" Scott wondered as he walked up to him.

Warren stepped towards everyone as Brownie flew over and landed on Damian's head. "I need to speak with Professor Xavier." He told them.

(Later)

"So your artifact was something called the Spider Stone." Chelsea said as she held Drake and the one year old played with her hair.

"And Mesmero tried to take it?" Gavin added, holding Damian who played with the bat who was sleeping on his head.

"Yes, and that's only half of the relic in question." Xavier nodded. "If the other is found, then the spider will be complete." He continued.

"It used to reside in the museum of London, at least until it was bought by someone." Beast added.

"Who?" Laura, who was holding Mr. T, questioned.

"According to the records… Oh no." The blue mutant said before going wide eyed.

"What is it, Hank?" Logan questioned.

"It was bought by the Latverian Ruler, Dr. Victor Von Doom." He replied, causing a few people to go pale.

"Kill me. Just kill me right now…" Gavin groaned.

"You know something we don't, Gav?" Chelsea questioned.

"Victor Von Doom, aka _Dr. Doom_, is one of the most dangerous people on the planet. The dude makes Hitler and Mussolini look like Girl Scouts in comparison." The pseudo vampire said. "And he does not take transgressions well, at all."

"Which means that getting the other half of the Spider Stone is going to be our biggest chore yet." Chelsea concluded with a sigh. "

"It'll also cause an international incident." Xavier added. "Seeing as that the good doctor has diplomatic immunity."

"He can collect his due without consequence…" The Dragoness groaned.

"_Unless _he attacks US soil." Johan said as he and Katerina suddenly entered the room. "Director Fury just told us what's going on."

"Then how do we get the other half of the stone?" The telepath questioned.

"My guess? We let it come to us." Katerina shrugged.

"Seems like our best option." Devin said with a shrug.

(Elsewhere)

With Magneto, he was currently letting Demona explain to him what the function of the Spider Stone was.

"What exactly is it capable of, Demona?" The man questioned.

"According to legend, once joined, the two halves will conjure the Spider Guardian Neith, who when destroyed opens the second gate." The woman told him.

"Mastermind, can you confirm this?" Magneto questioned the illusionist as he worked on Mesmero.

"Yes. This is all true." He replied, causing the magnetic mutant to frown.

"Hmmm, this is a vexing situation… Do you know where the other half is located?" Magneto asked.

"The Latverian embassy. Home of-." Demona began.

"Dr. Doom, yes I know. We've… Crossed paths before." The Magnetism user nodded.

"I hope you have a means of getting the other half without causing an incident, then?" The female Gargoyle queried.

"I believe I may, though it may involve getting some... assistance from some old friends." The man nodded.

(Elsewhere)

"If you have no pressing business here, then leave now. Do not waste the precious time of Victor Von Doom." An armor clad man draped in a green cloak told the X-men and Sever siblings.

"Is he seriously referring to himself in the third person?" Chelsea whispered to Logan.

"Yep. Just be mindful of what you say, though." Her lover warned.

"We didn't come all this way to waste your time, Doom." Johan replied.

"We have reason to believe that a hypnotist by the name of Mesmero may be on his way to steal your half of the Spider Stone." Katerina added. This made the ruler of Latveria frown in confusion.

"For what purpose would this hypnotist wish to steal Doom's half of the stone in question?" He inquired.

"To unleash the guardian housed within and destroy it." A new voice said before everyone turned to see Magneto and the Acolytes. "And doing so will unlock the second gate of Apocalypse's cell."

"The cell of Apocalypse?! Where is it?!" Doom questioned, sounding alarmed.

"None of us know at this point in time, I'm afraid." Xavier sighed. Doom looked at both groups before crossing his arms.

"Hmph. Very well, then. Doom is willing to accept your assistance, if only to ensure the welfare of my country and its people." He answered them.

"I'll give him this, at least he cares about his people." Gavin whispered.

"True." Rogue whispered back with a nod.

(Later)

"What do you mean he's gone, Mastermind?!" The Master of Magnetism yelled as he checked back at his base.

"That's just it, master! I don't know how, but he's escaped!" The illusionist replied as they looked at the chair that once held Mesmoro.

"And so has the artifact." Xavier mused ruefully. The two then reached for their communicators.

"X-men/Brotherhood and Acolytes, suit up and mobilize!" The two yelled.

(Elsewhere)

"This goes against every principle of my character." Gavin said as he drew his sword. "But as much as I hate having to help a dictator who puts Hitler to shame, I also don't want to have Apocalypse come back"

"Trust me, Gavin. None of us like helping a dictator either, but it has to be done." Jean told him with a sigh.

"Here comes Magneto." Bobby pointed as the Acolytes and Brotherhood appeared.

"Mesmero's escaped, and we don't know where he is." The red armor clad mutant told them.

"Well that's just great." Scott sighed as he shook his head at what had happened… that's when an explosion occurred in the embassy behind them.

Turning around they saw Mesmero being sent crashing out of the embassy and Doom was trying to catch a giant emerald green spider via a magic cowboy rope.

"Oh great, the pieces of the stone have been joined together." Devin sighed. "Come on, let's subdue the spider before any lasting damage can be done." He said as he changed his right arm into a hammer.

The two groups charged at the Spider and started to try and subdue it, and in the middle of it, the oversized arachnid hurled Doom into Logan.

"Okay, this spider won't be easy to subdue." The scraggly man groaned as Doom got off of him and helped him up.

"That much is already obvious." He stated before they resumed their efforts.

"Everyone concentrate your attacks on its head!" Gavin told them. "That's where the stone is!"

Everyone immediately began peppering the head of the spirit spider, which tried to protect itself but failed due to the quantity of the attacks. However, this proved to be too much for the creature as it soon was blown back and disappeared back into the stone… and it was damaged.

"Oh no, that doesn't look good." Bobby remarked in concern.

Gavin ran over and picked up the stone carefully, only for it to crumble in his hands seconds later.

"Ah crap. Bad news, people. We overdid it and destroyed it." He told everyone gathered.

"This isn't good." Rogue said, shaking her head.

"No kidding." Chelsea nodded.

And meanwhile in Tibet, the second door of Apocalypse's cell opened. There was only one to go now.

(Elsewhere)

-_Asgard-_

Asgard, the golden crafted home of the Norse gods carved out of the mountain head of a giant, the bifrost bridge shining as warriors and people alike walked across it. However, in the palace of the Allfather, Odin sat upon his throne as his two Ravens told him of events that happened in the nine realms. And there were a few that got his attention.

"Hm… Interesting…" He muttered as he took in what was just told to him. "Are you certain a mortal was able to do that?" He got chirps in response. "This cannot be allowed to go unpunished. Have Thor and the Warriors Three bring this 'Vampyr' to Asgard. He must stand trial for his transgressions, as do his constituents." The man ordered his messengers.

The Ravens chirped in reply before they flew off to fulfill their orders while off to the side, Loki the God of Mischief was grinning in the shadows.

It was time for his latest hairbrained scheme to be set in motion.

**ThermalsniperN7: Oh great, look who's getting involved **_**now…**_

**Dragon Emperor0: The X-men just can't catch a break, can they?**

**ThermalsniperN7: Apparently not. First the Halloween fiasco, then the second door of Apocalypse's cell opening, and now Odin wants the X-Men to stand trial and will probably be closed minded about it the whole damn time… Sheesh, these guys deserve a break.**

**Dragon Emperor0: I know right? Jeez… Anyway guys, next week will start the Vampyr's Trial arc, so stay tuned! Later!**


	68. Chapter 68

**Chapter 68: Guilty Until Proven Innocent**

-_Asgard, Palace of Odin-_

Odin sat on his throne as his best warriors knelt before him. They were Lady Sif, The Warriors Three: Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg, and lastly his eldest son: Thor God of Thunder.

Sif was Thor's betrothed. She was a woman who build and figure wise very much rivaled Storm and Emma in terms of sexiness, had blue eyes, and long golden hair which she was very well known for with the many legends about it. Her attire was traditional Asgardian armor and her weapon of choice was a short sword.

Fandral was a man with blonde hair, a mustache and goatee, wore fur padded armor and a very lavish looking cape. Hogun was a man who looked like he could be Gangis Khan's ancestor, Mongolian features, Hun-like armor and all. And lastly Volstagg was a rotund man with long red hair, and an equally long and large beard, and could actually be mistaken for the How to train your Dragon character: Stoick the vast.

And Thor… well everyone knew what he looked like, let's be honest.

"You summoned us, Allfather?" Sif asked, her head bowed respectfully.

"Yes. There is a matter of utmost importance that must be addressed." Odin began. "There is a mortal by the name of Vampyr that has committed a series of transgressions that warrant our attention." He explained, getting Thor's attention as the god of thunder tensed up.

"I've heard of him." Fandral said, his voice sounding very proper. "If memory serves, he nearly beat Lord Oberon to death, didn't he?"

"That is one of the transgressions I spoke of. He and his constituents are to be brought here to face trial." Odin nodded.

"That is assuming we can even get him to come with us willingly." Thor states with a shudder. "That boy, he is not a mere child, he's a monster in every sense of the word." He explains, causing Odin to raise an eyebrow.

"What exactly do you mean by that, my son?" He inquired.

"He managed to catch and wield Mjolnir, not by worthiness, but by sheer force of strength and will." The god of thunder informed. "Though I am unsure if he'd be able to repeat such a feat."

"Surely you jest." Sif said in disbelief, the words of her betrothed sounding outlandish to her.

"I do not jest, Sif. I am very serious about this." Thor replied seriously. This made the group seem wary. Quite so, in fact.

And in the shadows, Loki was grinning. All was going according to plan.

(Elsewhere)

Back at the Institute, Gavin was looking high and low for something. "See him, Brownie?" He called to his pet bat, who shook his head from the ceiling. "What about you Mr. T? Any luck?" He asked the Turtle who was looking under the love seat. The turtle came out and looked at him before shaking his head. "_Where_ did he go?" The teen sighed.

Who were they looking for? Damian and Drake, The two had disappeared for the fifth time that week, and they hadn't seen hide or hair of the little rascals since.

"Any sign of them?" Rogue called down from upstairs.

"Nothing down here. Any luck upstairs?" Gavin called back in reply.

Rogue was about to answer when a rattle nearly hit her in the head.

"Draaaake! Come on little guy this isn't funny! Come to mommy you little sneak!" Chelsea called to her son in worry.

"Here Drakey! Come to your big sister!" Laura called from her room.

"... None so far!" His girlfriend called back.

"Ugh. This is one of the negatives of being a parent, I swear!" The pseudo vampire groaned.

"Why are you so worried?" Logan asked as he sat on the couch. "Damian's a smart kid, they'll be just fine."

"You mean you're not at all worried that your shapeshifting part dragon son is running around unsupervised with the world's smartest and most mischievous two year old?" Gavin questioned. Logan sat stock still for a moment before he shot up and started sniffing for the scent of the two kids. He was also mentally praying that neither of them had taken a dump a few minutes ago since that wouldn't be pleasant.

This went on for several minutes until... "I found them!" Kitty called as she and Lance drove up in the latter's Jeep.

"Where are they?" Chelsea asked in concern.

"They _were _at the Brotherhood's boardinghouse terrorizing Blob, Toad, and Pietro, but they disappeared before we could grab them." Lance explained. "That Shadow portal move of Damian's makes him a really slippery little guy."

"It really does. I just hope he doesn't end up somewhere unpleasant…" Gavin said in worry. Just then, his phone rang. "Hello?... oh Jesus, not again." He groaned.

"What?" Logan asked.

"It's the boys, they've just pulled another heist at the bakery and candy store… Again." The pseudo vampire said, face palming. Everyone else then facepalmed in exasperation.

"How many times is that now?" Laura sighed.

"Not counting now? Twelve." Rogue replied.

"Those two are way too good at this…" Chelsea sighed.

"I blame my genetics giving Damian such a high IQ…" Gavin said.

"Come on. Let's go round 'em up before they disappear again." Lance said as he went to his Jeep.

(Elsewhere)

Meanwhile at the aforementioned candy store, Damian and Drake had already gotten what they wanted and now were waddling out of the store with a bag of candy and a bag of pastries and doughnuts each as well as jugs of milk (chocolate for Damian and Strawberry for Drake) and were getting very odd looks from passerby's.

The older of the two was dressed in a pair of tiny blue pants, a white shirt with X-Tremeade in green letters on it, and a pair of tiny white sneakers.

The younger was switching between his dragon form and human form as he walked and dragged his bags while holding his milk in his tail, but was dressed in a pair of khakis, brown loafers, a white V neck and an adorable little leather jacket that had Puff the magic dragon on the back.

Now you may be wondering, where's the third of this trio? Well… Alexander Xanatos was currently waiting for his friends in a red wagon at the street corner with his own bags of loot and a small jug of white milk. He was dressed in a red sweater vest, khakis, loathers, a white v neck, and had on a brown bus boy hat.

As his two friends arrived, they both tossed their winnings in the wagon and Drake got into a harness attached to the wagon and turned into his dragon form.

"Mush!" Ordered the tyke's leader. Drake snorted before he started running down the sidewalk, causing everyone to jump out of their way as they passed.

These toddlers were a shockingly effective gang, it seemed.

(Elsewhere)

"See them?" Laura asked Jean as she rode in the back of the X-Van with her and Scott.

"No sign of them yet." The redhead replied… Right before she spotted a wagon being pulled by a very familiar dragon hatchling. "I see them!" She exclaimed.

The green eyed girl looked outside the window and saw her little brother pulling a red wagon like a husky pulling a sled while his friends rode in said wagon with bags of snacks.

"... I… Don't know if I should be mad, or impressed." She said, flabbergasted.

"I agree." Jean nodded.

"Same." Scott threw in his two cents.

Though as the kids were about to turn a corner, Drake had to skid to a halt when he saw something blocking his way, but as he and the other two boys looked up to see what it was, their faces became filled with fear. Because standing in front of them, was Chelsea in her dragon form with Logan on her back.

"You kids are in a lot of trouble." The scraggly mutant said in a stern tone, causing them to shrink back from him.

If this was a looney tunes cartoon, the kids would be running in mid air because they hightailed it out of there faster than Sonic the Hedgehog.

"There they go again." Scott groaned.

"Those two need to tone it down a bit." Jean sighed.

"Tell me about it…" Laura nodded with a facepalm.

(Later)

"I'm really not sure how I'm supposed to discipline them now." Gavin said as he, Rogue, Logan, Chelsea, Laura, Xanatos and Fox all watched the boys drinking their milk on the couch after they stashed their treats elsewhere.

"Me neither, I mean they're little kids and I'm a first time mom so I'm still learning." Chelsea nodded.

"The fact that they can pull off stuff like this and get away with it boggles me." Fox commented.

"And since we don't know where they hid their loot, we can't take it from them." Added Laura.

"That's probably something Drake picked up from me." Logan sighed, pinching his nose as he watched his son drinking his milk as adorable as possible.

"I guess we should've seen that coming." Xanatos mused with a shake of his head. Chelsea sighed before she bopped Drake on the head, causing him to whimper, which the woman nearly caved at as she sternly but gently took him into her arms. As she did this the boy buried his head in her chest.

"You made us very worried Drake." The woman chastised him.

"Not cool, little bro." Laura said sternly. Logan just looked at him sternly which made the boy look sad.

"You made me and your mother worry, Damian. Never do that again." Gavin scolded his son lightly.

Damian buried his face into the nape of his dad's neck sadly, both boys feeling like their parents hated them now.

"We don't hate you. We just want you to stop making us worry about you." The Dragoness sighed softly as she gave her son a kiss on the forehead, Gavin nodding in agreement.

The two families hugged their little ones and Logan was ruffling up his son's hair while Laura and Chelsea peppered him with kisses. And Gavin stroked Damian's head while Rogue held him to her chest in an effort to calm them since they were both upset.

However… A large flash of light flashed in the courtyard and the Asgardians appeared through the Bifrost portal as a magic circle was burned on the grass. Gavin's head snapped to the courtyard and saw them before he groaned.

"Oh great, now we've got a squad of Asgardians in the courtyard." He sighed. The X-men all walked outside and faced the group. "I hope you guys realize that you just ruined a perfectly good yard just now." He told them in irritation. "And unless you have an appointment scheduled here, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave." He added.

"I believe that was my line, Gavin." Xavier told him.

"It was gonna be said either way, let's face it." The boy shrugged. Thor and his comrades faced him.

"Gavin Shirakumo, by order of the Allfather, Odin, you have been summoned to Asgard to stand trial for your crimes against it and the Allfather himself." Sif stated in a high and mighty and pompous tone. Gavin narrowed his eyes at her tone, not taking kindly to it. Thor noticed this and tensed slightly, recalling his previous encounter with the boy.

"The supposed crimes in question being what, exactly?" The boy questioned curtly.

"Your misuse and theft of both the Tesseract and Eye of Anubis, your unprovoked assault and attempted murder of Lord Oberon, and your blatant disrespect and assault on Thor Odinson, God of Thunder." The woman said, looking down on him as if he were lesser.

'_Sif, I love you, but you are acting like a fool right now!' _Thor thought in worry for his love's well being, knowing that her attitude was going to set Gavin off.

That's when the X-men got in the way. "You want him? You'll have to go through us." Rogue snapped, cosmic energy surrounding her as she floated in the air.

"If you want my brother, you'll have to kill me first." Devin added, forming a sword and a hammer out of his hands.

"You guys are so dead." Laura and Chelsea said in unison, claws deployed.

"Beat it, bub, _now_." Logan snarled, claws ready.

The Asgardians all looked at each other. "Very well then, we shall do this the hard way." The woman said as she drew her sword and everyone got ready for a fight.

Here we go again…

**Dragon Emperor0: This is not looking good.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Sif wasn't doing herself any favors with how she was talking to Gavin, in all honesty. Pissing off the guy who can fight Thor **_**and **_**the Hulk on even ground? Not the most intelligent move. Hell, even Thor thinks so!**

**Dragon Emperor0: And can we just take a moment to just marvel at how crazy and adorable the hijinx of those three babies was?**

**ThermalsniperN7: I know, right?! That was absolutely adorable of them! And the best part: they can easily get away with it! Who would have the balls to turn in adorable mutant toddlers that stole a bunch of sweets?**

**Dragon Emperor0: Yeah, they're too cute for jail. And I feel their pain, when my parents scolded me I always thought they hated me, but that just made us hug it out.**

**ThermalsniperN7: Those are the best parts of a family: Hugging out problems. Anyway, see you guys next time in Vampyr's Trial!**


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